Matthew Baron is a Los Angeles-based international professional photojournalist born in New York City and raised in Westchester County, specializing in photography from the spectacular world of Hollywood celebrities.
He began his professional career at the age of 8, appearing in commercials for HBO and IBM. In addition, acting in stage productions of “Quilt,” “Dick Tracy,” “Homeroom” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
In 1993, after a school trip to NBC Studios at Rockefeller Plaza, he set his path on the news business. For a school project on the news media, he prepared a series of questions, cold-called and interviewed such journalists as Brian Williams, Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel, Stone Phillips, Matt Lauer, Diane Sawyer, Sam Donaldson, Jack Ford, John Roberts, Bob Costas, Elizabeth Vargas, Ed Bradley, Hugh Downs, John Stossel, Tim Russert, Jerry Nachman, Chuck Scarborough, Bill Beutel, Reggie Harris, John Johnson, Tony Guida, Dana Tyler, Rick Sanchez, John Roland, Rosanna Scotto among many others. After he interviewed them, many of the journalists invited him to their studios and newsrooms so he could experience first-hand how the news was prepared.
In 1993, he studied journalism at St. John University’s Center for Gifted Education and was elected by his classmates to be the lead news anchor for the final project. In 1998, he traveled to London and took part in Intern Exchange International’s journalism program where he was the entertainment reporter for the program’s newspaper. From 1997-1999, during his junior and senior years of high school, he was co-anchor of the school’s mandatory news program, which aired throughout the community. Besides local interest news, he reported on current events that impacted the world, contributed movie reviews and man-on-the-street reports. In addition, he contributed news pieces and co-anchored LMC-TV, the local community television station in Larchmont and Mamaroneck, New York.
In 1996, while walking in Manhattan he noticed limos, spotlights and camera flashes at the Miramax premiere for “Unhook the Stars” at Carnegie Hall Cinema. The photographers along the red carpet caught his attention. They had camaraderie with the celebrities and the Miramax publicists. The next day, he cold-called every movie studio with an office in New York City, gaining access to movie premieres and screenings through his high school newspaper and morning television show. For 3 years, a few times a week, he would travel by train into New York City either taking pictures at various red carpet events or attend media screenings sitting next to the likes of Gene Shalit, Janet Maslin, Jeffrey Lyons, Rex Reed, Michael Musto, Dennis Cunningham, Joel Siegal and other notable New York movie critics.
In 2001, after studying history and criminal law at the State University of New York at Purchase, he started his own photo agency, Legacy Photos, selling his first pictures to Cosmopolitan Magazine of Courteney Cox, Charlize Theron and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Shortly thereafter, he partnered with the distinguished Hollywood-based photo agency Berliner Entertainment Images to represent his work and was mentored by Alan and Alex Berliner.
In the 17 years he has been a celebrity photographer, he has covered such events as the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Golden Globes, Emmy’s, Grammy’s, Tony’s, Royal Tours of Canada and Los Angeles, Princess Diana Memorial Dedication Ceremony, Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala, New York Fashion Week, BAFTAs, Brits, CFDAs, SAG Awards, DGA Awards, MTV Movie Awards, MTV VMAs, VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, World Music Awards, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, amfAR Galas, National Board of Review Gala, New York Film Critics Awards, American Music Awards, Carousel Ball of Hope Gala, GQ Men of the Year Awards, movie/tv premieres for studios/networks such as 20th Century Fox, ABC, BBC, CBS, CW, Disney, Dreamworks, Film District, Focus Features, FOX, Fox Searchlight, HBO, IFC, Lifetime, Lions Gate Films, Magnolia Pictures, MGM/UA, Miramax, MTV, NBC, New Line Cinema, Newmarket, Open Road Films, Overture Films, Paramount Pictures, Picturehouse, Relativity Media, Roadside Attractions, Samuel Goldwin Films, Showtime, Sony Pictures, Summit Entertainment, TNT, Universal, VH1, Warner Bros. and the Weinstein Company, showcases for music labels such as Sony, Jive, RCA, Universal, Island Def Jam, Interscope/Geffen/A&M, Bad Boy Entertainment, J Records, Arista, Polydor, Virgin Records, Def Jam, EMI and Motown.
His work has been featured in some of the world’s top publications and media outlets including: People Magazine, Us Weekly, InStyle, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, OK!, The Hollywood Reporter, Flare, InTouch, Life & Style, TV Guide, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Hello, Essence, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Allure, New York Post, New York Daily News, New York Times, Daily Mail, Time Out, The Times, Access Hollywood, Esquire, Tigerbeat, Entertainment Tonight, Inside Edition, Oprah, The View, Katie, E! News, Fashion Police, The Express, Grazia, Extra, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Los Angeles Times, Vegas Magazine, Ocean Drive, Parade, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, The Steve Harvey Show and many others.
Daily his work is seen in over 50 territories including: Africa, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South America, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwain, the United Kingdom and the United States.