About

Jennifer Martin

Wildlife, Aerial, and Underwater Photographer

 

I’m Jennifer Martin. By profession I’m a design and emerging technology leader, but my true passion is photography.
 
My first memory of photography was a class in the 10th grade at Santa Monica High School in California. I had a 35mm film camera and spent hours in the darkroom dodging and burning and experimenting with techniques like solarisation. I still remember the pungent chemical smell of the developer and fixer. I actually received a “D” grade because I didn’t know that attendance counted and I was in a rebellious phase.
 
I considered a career in photography, and even attended the University of Southern California’s film school, but I had an early quarter-life crisis and wound up in tech at the end of the dot com bubble. I met my soul mate and, by pure coincidence, he was also fond of photography. We both worked pretty demanding corporate jobs, and used travel and photography as a way to relax.
 
I planned all of our holidays around going somewhere to photograph something: landscapes in the southwestern United States, polar bears in Canada, wildlife in East Africa, and snow monkeys in Japan. I took a two-year assignment in Australia, which turned into a permanent relocation and dual-citizenship. Australia’s laidback lifestyle and natural beauty inspired me. I learned how to photograph the night sky. I fell in love with abstract aerial photography. I experimented with lightpainting and photographing water drops and bubbles and smoke. And I met my personal icon, the Australian sea lion.
 
I was frequently asked if I sell or exhibit my images, but photography was always something that I did for myself. I didn’t want the stress of “getting the shot” or having to focus on scenes and subjects that people would buy. I also love many genres of photography and didn’t want to limit myself to one specialty. I didn’t consider myself a photographer because it wasn’t my primary source of income.
 
Covid hit me pretty hard emotionally. I was fortunate to be able to work from home, but my travel wings were clipped. I spent a lot of lockdown buried in my Lightroom catalog, processing images I’d overlooked and reliving past experiences. And that’s when it hit me.
 
I’m an artist. I love the process of creating, and I create entirely for myself. I didn’t need to change; I just needed to share my work. And it turned out that sharing the world that I’ve captured in pixels reinvigorated my creativity.
 
NFTs blend my passions of photography and emerging technology, and also align with my minimalist lifestyle. I’m building my blockchain legacy; a multi-genre collection of the top .01% images from experiences in 62 countries (soon to be 63!). I’m being very intentional about what I mint to my Legacy collection and it will evolve over time to tell my story.

 
MINTED

 

I also sell prints and digital images, so please contact me for more information.

 

I hope that my work resonates with you, and that it inspires you to explore and create.