Been awhile since I’ve posted. Maybe 6 years.

[MatthewMMeckley]

Glad I remembered this page, this forum was pretty educational for me and help shape my career. Now just about 10 years in I’ve worked for some of the greats, I’ve also worked and lived in different countries to pursue my passion. Thanks guys! Here’s some photos from what I’ve been up to. Not much climbing now a days but I still love it. Here’s so

 

[Bermy]

Wow! Serious fireground felling!

 

[pantheraba]

Awesome awesome pictures. Glad you made it back and can share that. Very cool to see. Lots being said in each picture. Good photographer.

 

[Tommy_B]

I recognise some of these from Instagram @MatthewMMeckley . Good to see you back on here. Keep the photos coming mate

 

[cory]

Hey how you doing?

Great pics! Great stump shots.

Who's the girl?

Why are you cutting in those unfortunately burned out areas? Are you logging those trees or are they now a hazard tree near a target?

thanks

 

[flushcut]

Welcome back!

 

[Altissimus]

[QUOTE="cory, post: 1065699,

Who's the girl?



thanks
[/QUOTE]
.... so few Women in our business (we know it isn't Fiona, so for sure there's at least two), was going to ask

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Hey how you doing?

Great pics! Great stump shots.

Who's the girl?

Why are you cutting in those unfortunately burned out areas? Are you logging those trees or are they now a hazard tree near a target?

thanks

My girlfriend Katelyn.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Creek Fire burn?

 

[cory]

Did you know our legendary leader MB passed on?

 

[gf beranek]

Nice!

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Did you know our legendary leader MB passed on?

Oh no, Butch passed away? That’s a shame to hear. He seemed like an awesome fella.

 

[flushcut]

He did it was a bummer for sure. His memory lives on tho.

 

[cory]

He was one of a kind.

He is missed

 

[gf beranek]

Butch was a good ol' Boy. I admire him. I did. Because to me Butch represented the all American, red, white and blue, apple pie eating Tree Man! Alamode. Butch and I came from the same school learning the trade, old-school. I progressed, Butch didn't. But that's what I admired about him. Butch was the real deal. The last vestige of a dying breed of blue-colloar Americana.

Just imagine how Norman Rockwell might have portrayed Butch Ballow, all American Treeman, at his finest.

When I think of Butch that's how I see him. Ah, getting sappy now.

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Well his legacy lives on with this group. I was just a pup when I started this. I still feel like I’m a pup with still so much to learn. I feel thankful for the experiences I’ve had in my career. I’m also thankful the fact phone cameras work amazing to document most of my experiences. I feel my photos will never be as timeless as Mr. Beranek because it’s almost all over exposed now and the great lengths he went to for that perfect shot. I’ve worked under some of the greats and have had mentors become my best friends. I’ve lived and worked in NZ and Aus. I even got to do a wicked job with ACE tree in Australia. Just want to give thanks and hopefully give back to the industry. I am currently on fires doing the wildfire timber faller thing. I’m actually logging now for the forest service since the money is still there for them. It’s crazy that I was a climber in Chicago and now I’m on the west coast falling timber and working burn scars all over the west.

 

[Bermy]

Wowwwww!!
Stay safe dude

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Creek Fire burn?

Some were from the creek fire last year.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Some were from the creek fire last year.

Thought I recognized some of that area in your pics

 

[Burnham]

Some mighty nice pics there.

 

[treebogan]

Great pictures thanks for sharing!
Its great that you take the time to take pictures, when I worked in the bush there were guys with 30 years under their belt and nothing but memories.

You wont regret taking that 30 seconds to take a snapshot.

 

[stikine]

Great pictures thanks for sharing!
Its great that you take the time to take pictures, when I worked in the bush there were guys with 30 years under their belt and nothing but memories.

You wont regret taking that 30 seconds to take a snapshot.

This is so true. I wish the smart phone was around when I was starting out. So many photo ops missed that could have told a pretty interesting story.

 

[stikine]

Now I just take pictures of old logging blocks that I collected years ago, lol!

 

[cory]

Hella pics, Matt.

It looks like you've learned astronomically fast given your time in the industry.

You make superb looking stump cuts!

 

[MatthewMMeckley]

Hella pics, Matt.

It looks like you've learned astronomically fast given your time in the industry.

You make superb looking stump cuts!

Thanks man, sorry for all the photos. Just wanted to show how positive an influence the tree house was to my career early on. The working climber series and fundamentals of tree work were the icing on the cake.