Matt Calman is a trained artist, graduating from the Design and Arts College of New Zealand with a Dip Arts (with Hons) in 2000, majoring in photography.

He worked in picture framing businesses in Christchurch, Wellington, and Vancouver from 1999 till 2007. He retrained as a journalist at Massey University in Wellington in 2007 and worked at The Dominion Post newspaper from 2007 till late 2010.

His main role since leaving the newspaper has been raising his two daughters, though he continued working as a freelance writer, blogger, and photographer for a number of publications. He lives with his wife and daughters in Christchurch, New Zealand.