Martin with a SERIE I in his studio, 2019
Martin grew up in Northern California, in the part-rural, part-suburban town of Danville. His father, a television news cameraman, and his mother, a high school arts & crafts and special-needs teacher, were deeply influential in Martin’s early decision to become a photographer and artist. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Class of ‘94, he moved to San Francisco where he began his photography career as a commercial darkroom printer and photographer’s assistant. Martin moved to New York in 2000 and continued to assist photographers in the fast-paced, high-stakes world of commercial and fine-art photography, working for world-renowned photographers such as Norman Jean Roy, Mary Ellen Mark and Andrew Bordwin. He began photographing professionally, creating studio art and doing collaborations for his own clients such as Lisa Perry, Billy Reid and the Daniel Won Collection. Martin maintains a rigorous visual arts practice, participating in group gallery shows and working under the radar as an urban street artist. He has a small studio in New York’s iconic East Village where he has been for more than 10 years. Martin has been married since 2000 and is a father of three.