Welcome!

I am a photographer and an academic (in other contexts I'm an academic and a photographer...!); this site contains information about both of these aspects. This page and the blog are about photography, whilst the other links above point to information about my academic work.

Photographs

(A note about creating the images.) These image links are in date order (newest at the top). Copyright details are here; for sales, click these changing images (goes to RedBubble).

2010

In January/February 2010 I spent three weeks in Israel and Palestine researching for my new book. I also spent some time documenting contemporary issues; some of these images are reproduced here.

In August 2009 Israeli Jewish settlers evicted 9 families from their homes, making 53 people homeless. Protests have taken place every Friday at 15h since then. On 22.1.10, apparently for the first time, two ex-Members of Knesset, Yossi Sarid and Avraham Burg, were present.
(uploaded 28.1.10)

Tomatin and the surrounding area, early January 2010; see also this blog posting and this one.
(uploaded 18.1.10)

2009

	Abbeyhill, Edinburgh, Christmas Eve; Dalkeith Country Park, Boxing Day (uploaded 18.1.10)
	Lake of Menteith, central Scotland; this blog posting uses some of these images for discussing 'time' in landscape photography (uploaded 18.12.09)
	Torridon workshop with Bruce Percy; you might also want to read the day's blog entry (uploaded 1.11.09)
	Torridon workshop with Bruce Percy; you might also want to read the day's blog entry (uploaded 31.10.09)
	on the way to Torridon (uploaded 30.10.09)
	Edinburgh at night (uploaded 30.10.09)
	night sky, Holyrood Park (Arthur's Seat), Edinburgh (uploaded 18.8.09)
	images from three weeks on Mull, Iona and Staffa, on Scotland's west coast (uploaded 26.7.09)
	Jane (London, June) (uploaded 27.7.09)
	Stephanie (London, June): based in part on Louise Brooks images (e.g. here); in some images, Stephanie is wearing jewellery by Rachel Purnell, Indigo Twist (uploaded June..., amended 21.10.09)
	a few summer days in central London (uploaded 28.6.09)
	May, the portent for June (signs of spring and summer!) (uploaded 2.6.09)
	Newhailes Estate; May (images from one beautiful day) (uploaded 22.5.09)
	Stephanie (Edinburgh, April) (uploaded May, amended 9.8.09)
	Edinburgh; winter-spring (uploaded 23.4.09)
	Stirling; winter-spring (uploaded 23.4.09)

2008

	Franken; November (uploaded 24.4.09)
	Bergen; August (uploaded 22.4.09)
	Chicago etc.; summer (uploaded 23.4.09)
	Edinburgh and East Lothian; summer-winter (uploaded 26.4.09)

Creating the images

(back to image thumbnails at the top of the page)
My photographic motivation is pretty simple: I am interested in colour, shape and shadow, rather than particular motifs. Over the years I have focussed (pun intended!) mostly on photographing landscapes and cityscapes. But I am discovering the joys of photographing people who want to be photographed - a tremendously enjoyable process.

I use a mixture of digital imaging, transparency (slide) film, and black and white print film. I am not that interested in camera equipment for its own sake - and whilst I prefer the look of film, I also like the convenience of digital... I am not a format fetishist!

I don't have any offshore bank accounts that fund my photography, so everything I buy represents a major investment. In any case, I try to live Bruce Percy's line that your camera does not matter (he also says that in different ways here and here, and others, such as Ken Rockwell, say the same thing). So the equipment I mostly use is listed here, rather than with each image where it doesn’t belong (either enjoy the image or don’t, but forget about the machines used in making it):
SLRs:
Nikon FM2 +
    Nikon Series E 50mm f/1.8
    (I've written about this camera on my blog.)
Nikon F65 +
    Nikon 28-100mm f/3.5-5.6G +
    Nikon 70-300mm f/4-5.6G +
    Nikon SB28
Nikon D90 +
Nikon D40 +
    Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G VR DX +
    Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G DX +
    Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX +
    Nikon SB400
    (and sometimes the 28-100mm/70-300mm lenses)
Rangefinder (mostly for messing about with, but fun!):
FED-4 (a USSR-era camera, Ukraine 1964-1980)
Compact cameras:
Canon PowerShot A470
Mobile phone:
LG KS360
Film (mostly - though I use some others too):
Fuji Velvia 50 (pre-2007 mostly Sensia 100/200/400)
Ilford FP4 and HP5
In addition, I use Nikon's IR remote control (very cheap) for the D90/D40/F65 - great for reducing vibration.
In the dark, and at some other times, I use a Velbon Sherpa 600R tripod with the SLR cameras. Given that I think tripods for day times are mostly a terrible nuisance and often even a hindrance for taking good photographs (at least for me: they restrict my movement and sometimes just make me lazy), this one is great: it's light enough to carry around, and easily strong enough to cope with Scottish winds! Of course, when using a digital camera, the fast 35mm lens and the VR feature on the 18-200mm lens enable fairly slow shutter speeds to be used (even in the evening) and so a tripod becomes less and less important.

I also use Cokin filters rather a lot, especially the polariser; I have also started investing in Lee filters. These systems are great since they work well on a variety of lenses: different lenses simply need different filter-rings. Apart from being so much cheaper than a full set of screw-in filters (even if just buying one size of screw-in filters - e.g. 77mm - and a matching step-up ring for different lenses), this also allows the graduated filters to be moved, which is really important.

One last thing...

I want to clarify that I am obviously not the photographer extraordinare who has the same name as me! Some of my images are perhaps quite good, but the other Michael Marten is in a class apart...

You'll find links to some of the other photographers that I find inspiring on my blog.

That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. (Willa Cather, 1873-1947)