Matt Gibson
I first picked up a camera my senior year of high school, mainly because I had to in order to satisfy my fine arts credit for graduation. At the time I had no real desire to learn about photography and didn't really appreciate the art that photographers create. That class, mostly because of my teacher, helped me realize photography was a viable career path (be sure to thank your teachers, kids). I went to college, graduated, and moved around a bunch, working in a variety of industries from politics to collegiate athletics to public affairs before finally deciding I was ready to commit to photography.
Before 6/6 was even created I spent 6 months running around Forza Weightlifting's gym taking random photos and videos, relearning how everything worked. In June of 2020, I created the branding for 6/6 and made a last-second decision to head to Detroit for Nationals. The rest fell into place afterwards and 6/6 continues to grow more than I could have ever hoped.
In case you're interested, I graduated from the University of Rhode Island in 2018 with a B.S. in Marine Biology and a B.A. in Political Science. That's a weird combo, I know.
(Photo: @Squatchez_Media)
Sydney Mayer
Until my senior year of college (San Diego State University '17), I would have never dreamed that one day, I would find myself most at home behind a camera or that I'd develop an interest in Olympic Weightlifting. (I had been a lifelong band geek. The "I play bassoon" level band geek.)
I joined Ryan Films San Diego in 2017, first as a video editor and then as a Wedding Videographer. I spent three years capturing what I thought was the happiest day of someone's life but let's be honest, we never see newlywed couples celebrate saying "I do" the way we see a lifter & their coach celebrating a big PR lift.
After weddings were paused at the beginning of the pandemic, I switched gears and worked in COVID-19 Response for the San Diego County Public Health Department (CA) and the Lake County Health Department (IL). When life started moving forward again, Matt and I thought we'd pursue our own wedding videography company but neither of us anticipated how quickly 6/6 Media would take off!
Now we travel all over the country (and soon, the world!) taking pictures of some of the strongest humans alive. I started lifting myself in May of '22, after being inspired by the amazing feats of strength I was lucky enough to witness firsthand. When I'm not editing hundreds of weightlifting videos or taking photos, I enjoy macrame and hanging out with our little zoo (Mido the collie mix, Spazz the whipador, and our cats, Jack & Henry).
(Photo: @Squatchez_Media)
