Matthew Rakola 11/3/25 Matthew Rakola 11/3/25

The Air Up There

Aviation photography from the 2025 Andrews Air Show in Maryland, featuring the Thunderbirds and Army Golden Knights parachute team.

The 2025 Andrews Air Show outside of Washington, D.C., Sept. 14, 2025

Every once in awhile it’s good to mix things up and try shooting something completely different. Nikon’s 180-600mm Z mount lens did the trick. While the camera, a Zf, struggled a bit with this honkin’ piece of glass on it, I was able to grab a few frames that I was happy with.

It’s always a nice change to be able to process these images in any style that I’d like, as opposed to fitting in with a client’s existing brand. My goal here was to create graphic images that also had some tension, hence the B&W for most of the images.

Matthew Rakola 4/18/23 Matthew Rakola 4/18/23

A New Corporate Brand

Every once in awhile we need to mix things up a bit–although in this case it’s more of a cleaving in two. After a bit of thinking about it I’m shifting most of my corporate, association, and client-direct work over to a new brand, Lux Umbra*.

Same company, same cameras, same goofy face. But, with an interface geared more towards communications and marketing professionals for Fortune 500 companies, law firms, associations, and non-profits. It will have a focus on “real people doing real things” and will also include a bit of video capture.

As you can imagine, there will naturally be some overlap. My approach to photographing someone building a campfire isn’t that different than documenting someone working on their computer so it stands to reason that some images might work well in both spaces.

Matthew Rakola Photography, which has always been registered as Lux Umbra, LLC, will become more focused on advertising, editorial and personal work. In the coming months you’ll find new work, but a more unified overall aesthetic.

Whether you find me here or there, you’ll still find a commitment to great imagery, attentiveness, and leaving the location cleaner than when I found it.

As always, hit me up with any questions or comments.

Matthew

* “Lux Umbra” is Latin for “Light Shadow”. These two elements are the basis for all of the visual arts.

Matthew Rakola 10/10/21 Matthew Rakola 10/10/21

Adventure School

Last weekend the family headed down to Mountain Shepherd Adventure School in Catawba, VA. Adjacent to Jefferson National Forest and the Appalachian Trail, Mountain Shepherd sits on 100 beautiful acres of mountainous forest. Here, owner Dina Bennet teaches students of all ages about everything from basic hiker safety to wilderness survival. Interwoven into the shelter building, fire starting, bug eating (!), water gathering, signaling and more is the most important lesson of all–both in the woods and back in civilization–maintaining a positive mental attitude. Keeping yourself alive starts with keeping your head.

Oh, and the cute pups, comfy lodge and s’mores didn’t hurt either!

Matthew Rakola 9/30/21 Matthew Rakola 9/30/21

Water Rescue

This past weekend I headed up to Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, PA to completed my open water SCUBA diving certification. This has been on my bucket list since I was ten years old and I’m very happy to be part of the underwater club.

After my last dive I hung out a bit, floating around topside (trying to keep my camera out of the water) and captured some images of the rescue class that was underway. It’s a difficult, fun and ultimately rewarding class that I hope to take in the next year or so. Huge thanks to One Ocean Scuba in Silver Spring, Maryland for teaching me the ropes and keeping us all safe. If you live in Maryland and you’re interested in learning to scuba dive, or if you’re just looking for a great local dive shop, you should definitely check them out.