In this blog post, we'll meet Matthew Ross, Co-Founder of WUI Productions.
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in to the WUI Productions blog! My name is Matthew Ross and I just wanted to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about who I am and what inspired me to be a co-founder of WUI Productions. So have a seat, grab a refreshing beverage and enjoy the story!
Matthew Ross is a wildlife and conservation photographer, video producer and media creator. Originally from Long Island, New York, Matthew moved to Colorado in late 2013 and decided to retire from a successful career in alternative medicine and fitness to embark on a new career and life in his new home state.
As an avid nature lover and outdoorsman, Matthew decided to turn this passion of his into a new career. This decision would lead him to returning to school and begin studying natural resource and conservation management.
He began this journey as a student at Front Range Community College in Fort Collins where he studied forestry, natural resource, and wildlife management. He loved this program as it focused on learning through hands-on work in the field with other students and professionals. This program was also very inspirational as it opened up a new world to him as he learned how precious our natural world is and why it’s so important to manage our natural resources and the wild creatures that live within it.
Through his studies at FRCC and with the encouragement from some of his instructors and mentors, he would then enroll at Colorado State University to continue his studies in Human Dimensions of Natural Resource Management. This program is offered at the Warner College of Natural Resources and focuses on park, natural area, and protected area management and conservation.
Along his journey and though the work he was doing outdoors, Matthew would become interested in photography and communicating conservation and environmental issues instead of directly managing them. This would lead him to once again change his studies and major to journalism and media communications where he would focus on enhancing his skills in writing, photography, video production, and other forms of media communication.
Through his studies in both programs at CSU, Matthew began to notice a disconnect between conservation science and educating the general public on important issues within conservation and environmental issues, and wanted to learn how to better communicate them through a variety of media productions. This would lead Matthew to decide to continue his studies as a masters student, where he decided to focus on learning science communication through documentary film, photography, and other forms of visual media.
This decision and through working on films with other students and faculty such as Lasting Embers and short-form documentary series on crop diversity and soil health, would ultimately lead to him co-founding WUI Productions with his friend and classmate, Eric Forbes.
Today, Matthew is looking to finish his master's degree in the spring of 2024 to continue communicating science through films and other video projects with Eric and their company, WUI Productions.
In his spare time, Matthew enjoys getting outside and photographing wildlife along the Front Range and other parts of Colorado. He also takes multiple road trips a year to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, as well as other destinations around the country. Matthew also looks to do more international travel so that he can capture images and video of wildlife around the globe.
He hopes that the videos and films they produce and the images they captures are able to tell captivating and engaging stories that inspire others to appreciate and protect the natural world around us.