Edgar Martins Analysis

Edgar Martins

http://www.edgarmartins.com/

Edgar Martins, a contemporary photographer who manipulates natural lighting to his advantage, although like many of his photos, like the one above for example, he prefers to photograph night time scenes he also photographs day time scenes capturing photos in 'the moment'.

Born in 1977 and despite being of portuguese origin, he grew up in Macau, China. Originally Edgar had started off as an author, publishing his first book at aged 18, and from then moved to the united kingdom to study and complete a BA in photography and social science, which then followed an MA in fine art and photography at the Royal college of art. Edgar won various awards for his work and aperture monographs, touring in various different countries for exhibitions such as France, Spain, UK, Portugal, Brazil  and Germany in 2003, 2006, 2008 and in 2009.

Using lighting and positioning to his advantage, Edgar Martins has managed to create creative and mystical photos without the use and need of digital manipulation. His photos vary in the amount of control he has over lights and other factors, For example, like the one above he had total control over the lighting and positioning, we can tell by the criss costing of the shadows thats being cast over the plants, this shows that he had planted lights on both sides of the road to create that effect. He also has to use a low shutter speed and a tripod, to not only keep the camera steady but also because there's little lighting the film needs to be exposed for long periods of time.
But the two photographs below, he has no control over the lighting and/ or positioning on the light and where it hits. depending on where they were taken depends on the shutter speed and the aperture.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The one on the left, he used only natural light and probably used a big shutter speed and an aperture of F8, whereas the photo on the right, Edgar would need a VERY low shutter speed of probably about 1 and a VERY high aperture to be able to capture as much light as possible.

I think that Edgar Martins has a set theme for each one of his photographs, when observing them theres a sense of mystery in his photos and solitude. 'Whats beyond that light', 'Where was this', his photos raise a load of unanswered questions which related to 'mysterious theme'