My name is Matthew Morelli, I'm a photographer, student of journalism and above all an adventurer. In the last several years, I have backpacked in over 20 states, including a North Bound thruhike of the Appalachian Trail in the spring of 2017. After completing the AT in August of 2017 I bought and converted a Ford E150 van to do some more extensive traveling during the hiking off-season. My goal was to begin taking my photography hobby and turn it into a potential profession. 

While traveling through Colorado in late September to photograph the Aspen trees turn vibrant yellow, I got to meet Josh Tippet (Cheese Beard) and Eddie Boyd (Oil Can) who were doing a South Bound thruhike of the Continental Divide Trail, the last leg of their backpacking triple crown. In the Spring of 2018, they made an announcement that they had stitched together a new long-distance route called the Greater Yellowstone Traverse. I asked to hop on for this 500-mile gamble, and they were happy to oblige. Later that summer, I became one of the first four people to ever complete the GYT! That was an event that has forever changed the direction of my life.

In 2020 a friend I had made traversing the Wind River High Route, Sticks (@jackson_kramer), offered me to tag along for his own 500-mile route, this one through the high desert of the upper Great Basin in Nevada, Oregon and California. This proved to be the toughest hiking of my life thus far as it took nearly 300 miles to hit the first section of trail. Through the test of will, Sticks, our hiking partner Janis, and I pulled together to document this wonderfully wild area of the United States that so few have ventured in to. Click here to see more!

The Summer of 2019 brought new challenges to my feet. Through some mild pestering, I was able to secure an internship with the Hyperlite Mountain Gear marketing team. During the week I wore many hats, doing anything from organizing a vast collection of photographs, to working a booth at hiking events, to market research and product testing, to being sent into the field for content generation. Nearly every weekend was spent exploring the peaks of the White Mountain National Forest and of the state of Maine, further honing my photography skills.

Currently, I am based in Athens, Georgia where I attend the University of Georgia. The plan is to study journalism with a focus in photojournalism and restore my savings account for a few years while doing as many trips as my schedule (and wallet) can afford. My passions lie in the mountains, especially the high mountains of the Western United States. Being positioned in the South East, I need to find challenges to keep me inspired in the smaller Appalachian Mountains. With that in mind, I brought the North Eastern mentality of peak bagging back to the South. I am now tackling the South Beyond 6,000 challenge, which is to ascend each of the 40 6,000 foot peaks in the South Eastern Appalachian Mountains.

The adventure of my photography career started over a dozen years ago on Christmas when I was only 12. I had been saving up my money for months to buy a new Nikon D60 and lens package. Instead, my last present that year was a gift from my parents, the exact camera package I had wanted. The catch to that gift was that I had to turn over my savings, a small fortune to a 12-year-old, but ever since the moment I tore the wrapping paper off that box a camera has been in my hand. I will spare you all from my earliest photographs, but I hope you will enjoy the galleries of my most accomplished shots!

Click here to see my portfolio!

I hope you appreciate my photographs a quarter as much as I enjoyed taking them. Thank you all!

- Matthew Morelli