It’s midday in Melbourne and outside the temperature has just edged past 34 degrees. The sun is high in the sky, the air stifling, and thousands of people are desperate to find a small slice of air-conditioned relief. Matt Irwin, the dynamic – and amazingly energetic – Melbourne photographer, suddenly enters the cool surrounds of his inner-city gallery and introduces himself. He is a tall, youthful man who instantly puts a stranger at ease. Ironic really, he later admits, as his shyness has been one of his greatest challenges.

“I was a nerdy kid who had to learn not to be shy,” he says. “But it’s still kind of there, or maybe I’m just like one of my heroes, Stanley Kubrick – I might just be a bit reclusive. I believe photographers are fairly singular beings anyway – you know, I just need my camera and I can go out and create whatever I want to create. It’s what I love to do.”

Born in Melbourne in 1971, Irwin has spent more than 20 years building a career as a professional photographer and artist. His business, Matt Irwin Photography, is an impressive entity that services his many interests and aspirations: from commercial photography to his own creative projects that includes a successful retail arm. In 2008, he opened his gallery and studio in Scott Alley (just off Flinders Lane). Inside, you can see his range of cards, calendars, canvases and limited edition prints. Located downstairs is exhibition:underground, another Irwin initiative that offers affordable exhibition space for artists.

Hearing his story, it’s hard not to think of Dorothy Parker’s famous remark: “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” Irwin laughs.

“I’ve always been curious about the world,” he says. “It just really excites me. A thunderstorm, wet roads and textures – the way fog moves across the landscape. You can see it in my work – I get super-excited by what I see and I just have to photograph it.

“To be honest, I think I got some of this from my father. I’ve always loved the juxtaposition of man and nature, you know, the things we’ve created, the things that we do, all set against the natural world. It’s amazing to be able to capture these experiences with my camera.”

Today, Irwin is known for his vivid cinematic style of photography, and like his other hero, Ridley Scott, he uses cityscapes to tell stories and explore the nature of our built environments. Lighting, atmosphere, contrast and composition all play pivotal roles in his work. Ghost Tram, taken on an early August morning in 1994, is probably his most famous image. It shows two trams, one in the foreground and another disappearing into the foggy distance. The tramline itself offers a perfect vanishing point, while a lone figure, dressed in classic Melbourne black, lingers hauntingly within the frame. Shot on 35mm Ilford FP4 film, its nostalgic reach – and filmic quality – combines to make a timeless image.

“I feel very proud to be a Melbournian,” Irwin says, “and I feel very lucky to have been born here. You know, it’s quite a privilege to document such a growth period because the city has changed a great deal in the last 20 years.”

Irwin was just eight years old when his father, Leslie, introduced him to his twin-lens reflex (TLR) 120 camera. Irwin was fascinated with the gadget but he didn’t realise the great potential of photography until his mid-teens.

“When I was about 14, I worked out that the frame was an editorial tool,” he says. “It was a eureka moment. I just realised I could shoot part of what I saw – the corner of a building, for example, and make it look spectacular even if the rest of the building wasn’t. So I had this moment where I realised, ‘Wow! The camera is such a powerful tool.’ And it was this idea of the frame that led me to the realisation that I could create something more. That’s when the ‘idea of creating’ really began to germinate.”

During his formative years, Irwin pursued many interests outside his school studies including photography, filmmaking, animation and computer programming. It was also during this time that he also drew inspiration from one of television’s most enduring creations: Dr Who. Tom Baker and Peter Davison, the fourth and fifth Doctors respectively, were Irwin’s staple.

“Believe it or not, Dr Who had a big influence on me,” he says. “It was great for my creativity and my inventiveness, and I loved its whimsy – you know, that idea that anything could happen, because I really believed that if I tried hard enough, that I could make anything happen in my own life. I’ve always been able to self-motivate, to entertain myself and this – I have to be honest – is because I just get so excited by what life – and the world – has to offer.”

In 1988, Irwin completed his HSC and then studied Foundations in Media at Homesglen College of TAFE. It was an intensive 12-month course that included 14 subjects. He graduated in 1989 and within 12 months, began to sell his photographs at the Camberwell Market. In 1991, he was accepted as a stallholder at the St Kilda Market, and it was here where he met and befriended Academy Award winning animator, Adam Elliot.

“I met Adam before he was famous,” Irwin says. “He really is a great friend.”

With a flair for business and a passion for photography, Irwin was soon travelling overseas for his profession. In 2002 he went to China, Mongolia and Russia for Intrepid. Business was really booming. The following year, he successfully transformed the core of his business from film to digital. By 2007, he was such a veteran that he underwent special underwater escape training to complete a photo shoot on an oilrig in Bass Strait. “I survived,” he says, “and I got to ride in a massive helicopter too.

“But only about 10 per cent of what I do is commissioned, commercial photography. Ninety per cent of my time is taken up by my personal projects – and right now, it’s trying to publish my own works.”

Those works will feature in Melbourne: A Love Affair, a self-published coffee table book set for release in April 2012. Comprising more than 170 pages of Irwin’s Melbourne photographs, it is, he says, the perfect summation of a 21-year-career spent documenting his favourite city. Featuring colour and black and white photographs, Melbourne: A Love Affair takes the viewer on a tour through Melbourne’s laneways and parks, across its bridges, and through its city streets and beyond.

It is beautifully presented with anecdotal passages written by Irwin about many of the featured photographs. In a digital world, this is a book that offers a permanent visual record of the cultural and architectural evolution of a great city.

“Melbourne and its inhabitants are indeed different to the rest of Australia,” writes Adam Elliot in the book’s Foreword. “We are the anomaly, and I empathise with what Barry Humphries once boldly stated – that he is ‘not an Australian, but a Melbournian’. My friend, Matt Irwin I think would agree. He, like Barry, is one of Melbourne’s creative individuals, and a proud one at that; a black sheep with a camera and love for a city that is a many varied thing.”

The book also contains a personal dedication to Irwin’s father, Leslie John Irwin, who passed away in 2005 from cancer. He was his son’s greatest mentor and supporter – they even worked together from 1994 to 2004.

“On a personal level, so much has happened but I finally feel as though I’ve entered a new stage in my life and my career,” Irwin concludes. “So the time feels right for a book. I also want to offer people interested in my work – and people who love Melbourne – something beautiful I really hope they will enjoy.”

Wendy Cavenett