![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Matt-Gindlesperger-4-567x840.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAltoona After Dark street photographer Matt Gindlesperger sits in front of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.<\/p>\n
Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski <\/p>\n
A Johnstown native who\u2019s lived in Altoona for 25 years has been honored by the online photography magazine reFocus.<\/p>\n
Matt Gindlesperger, 43, a member of the Altoona Zoning Hearing Board, was the 2025 recipient of the magazine\u2019s People\u2019s Vote Award for street photography for his portfolio of night shots taken in Altoona with a Samsung Galaxy S21 phone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not a full time photographer, nor a professional by any stretch,\u201d Gindlesperger said. \u201cJust a guy with a cellphone and a hobby.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the narrative and an interview in the magazine that accompany the series that won the reFocus award, Gindlesperger and the magazine\u2019s editors point out that he\u2019s drawn to photograph things that are overlooked, forgotten, dismissed, discounted.<\/p>\n
Seven times, \u201coverlook\u201d is used literally in the accompanying material, while many other times, it\u2019s implied or suggested with phrases like: \u201cthe in-betweens,\u201d \u201cwhat stays after dark,\u201d \u201cthings that feel like they\u2019re still holding on,\u201d \u201clittle corners people pass by without looking,\u201d \u201cparts of the city that only reveal themselves when no one\u2019s really watching,\u201d \u201c(the quality of) showing up even when nobody\u2019s looking,\u201d \u201cforgotten corners,\u201d \u201cthings that feel small but say a lot if you stop and look,\u201d \u201cmoments that feel a little lonely,\u201d \u201ctucked under there, asleep,\u201d \u201cwhere nobody\u2019s paying attention.\u201d <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Altoona After Dark street photographer Matt Gindlesperger\u2019s photos of late-night Altoona scenes like this one, have been featured by online
\nphotograpy magazine reFocus.
\nCourtesy photo<\/p>\n
In the middle-of-the-night dark, when he takes his pictures in the city, things are different, because the \u201chustle and bustle of crowds\u201d is gone, Gindlesperger said in a recent phone interview. <\/p>\n
\u201cI chase what stays after dark,\u201d he told reFocus.<\/p>\n
The appeal of such things relates to his childhood, he said in the Mirror interview.<\/p>\n
Gindlesperger went to St. Benedict\u2019s Elementary School in Johnstown from kindergarten through eighth grade, and then for a year to Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was one of the kids in school who was picked on,\u201d he said. \u201c(For) my hair and complexion, my upbringing \u2014 I\u2019m not from an affluent family, and I was on scholarship to pay my tuition.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Matt-Gindlesperger-3-637x840.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This image of Altoona\u2019s Mishler Theatre at night was among the photos taken by Matthew Gindlesperger that appeared in the online photography magazine reFocus.
\nCourtesy photo<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the son of a white father and a Black mother, who raised him after his parents divorced when he was young, he said.<\/p>\n
Perhaps because of the way he was treated in school, he tended to \u201cbefriend folks that most people make fun of,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was drawn to the outcasts,\u201d and \u201cdidn\u2019t want to follow the crowd,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He transferred to Johnstown Vo-Tech for his final three years of high school, and things got better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is where I came out of my shell,\u201d he said. \u201cI found out who I was \u2014 not so much what people had labeled me.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Matt-Gindlesperger-21-472x840.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This image of a sign indicating downtown Altoona at night was among the photos taken by Matthew Gindlesperger that appeared in the online photography magazine reFocus.
\nCourtesy photo<\/p>\n
At Vo-Tech, there were \u201cmore darker complected folks,\u201d to whom he hadn\u2019t been exposed much previously, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey looked like me and acted like me,\u201d he said, and he was more comfortable. <\/p>\n
Despite his mother having raised him to speak his mind and not to cower before the opinions of others, Gindlesperger said he had to overcome a personal resistance to sharing his photographs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was self-conscious how (they) would be viewed,\u201d he said, adding he didn\u2019t feel like his work would be \u201cup to snuff,\u201d especially given his lack of professional credentials and professional equipment.<\/p>\n
But family and friends encouraged him, and he gave in to that persuasion, and \u201cwhen I did, it kind of blew up unexpectedly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Matt-Gindlesperger-6-556x840.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
This image of Altoona\u2019s Texas Hot Dog Shop at night was among the photos taken by Matthew Gindlesperger that appeared in the online photography magazine reFocus.
\nCourtesy photo<\/p>\n
The award hasn\u2019t changed the way he works or the way he sees things, although it has provided validation, he said.<\/p>\n
He plans to keep on taking pictures, regardless of future feedback. \u201cI do it for myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He started taking the pictures of Altoona\u2019s nightscape without intending it to become a project, he told reFocus.<\/p>\n
It began as a way to handle seasonal depression and restlessness, he told the magazine.<\/p>\n
That depression and restlessness stemmed from \u201cthe weight of my professional career\u201d then, as an operations manager at a manufacturing facility in Bedford County, where he felt there were unreasonable expectations he had to meet, he told the Mirror.<\/p>\n
Out on the streets, he took shots of \u201cthings I thought were cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He wanted viewers to see what he saw and to make them \u201cfeel something,\u201d he said, and regards his photography as art, like poems or songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt carries the same amount of weight\u201d in terms of feelings or mood, he said. <\/p>\n
Gindlesperger is now operations manager for Leonardo DRS in Johnstown.<\/p>\n
He has a business degree from the University of the People, an online college.<\/p>\n
reFocus bills itself as \u201ca platform to discover the most distinctive visual professionals, artists, and industry leaders of our time.<\/p>\n
It is designed to showcase the \u201cartistic visions of our community first and to get our participants noticed,\u201d according to the publication.<\/p>\n
The awards bestowed by the magazine are managed by Creative Resource Collective, which was \u201cestablished in 2020 with the goals of providing resources, recognition, exposure, and community for photographers around the world,\u201d according to the publication.<\/p>\n
The magazine\u2019s panel of judges include representatives from ABC News, Phaedon Press, Shutterstock, Whistler Contemporary Gallery, Wired, Conde Nast Publications, Getty Images, GO Gallery, Gilman Contemporary, Ripple Effect Images, University of Nebraska Lincoln, Leica Gallery LA, Photoville, PhotoVisa, the Nikon School and National Geographic Society, according to the publication.<\/p>\n
To view the spread that accompanies Gindlesperger\u2019s award, do an internet search for Gindlesperger Altoona After Dark or visit streetphotography<\/p>\n
magazine.com where Altoona After Dark is currently on the second page of the \u201cLatest Articles\u201d group. The direct link is https:\/\/streetphotographymagazine.com\/article\/altoona-after-dark\/.<\/p>\n
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n