Matt Eich (b. 1986) was raised in the peanut-farming town of Suffolk, Virginia before he began his studies in photojournalism at Ohio University in 2004. His life and the focus of his work shifted dramatically when his daughter Madelyn was born in October 2007. The following summer of 2008, Matt interned with National Geographic Magazine, traveling to Peru, India, Rwanda and Botswana before returning to Ohio to complete his degree. While finishing school Matt began working as a freelance photographer for clients such as Newsweek, Mother Jones, TIME, The FADER, Smithsonian, More, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Businessweek, US News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Apple, The Canadian Opera Company and others. In 2009 Matt won POYi's Community Awareness Award, The Magenta Foundation's Bright Spark Award, was a finalist for the W. Eugene Smith Grant and was selected for the 16th World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass. Most recently he was awarded the HCP Juried Fellowship at the Houston Center For Photography, a 2nd place in POYi 67, was named one of PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch and received the F25 Award for Concerned Photography. Matt and his family now live in Norfolk, Virginia where he works on long-term projects while compulsively documenting everything around him.