Martin Waern
Martin Waern is a shoot-and-destroy photographer who has exhibited in Majorca, London, and Stockholm. His most notable exhibitions include dual features at The Brick Lange Gallery in London and a permanent exhibition installation at Grand Hotel Nordic Spa in Stockholm. In addition to his photography, Martin is also a writer and musician, an author of the Shearwater Chronicles blog and part of the music project Machine. Martin describes his work as “storytelling signature of finding beauty in imperfection…carving a mark to let God know we exist”.
Shoot-and-destroy entails a technique Martin utilizes where the photographer destroys the original file or negative associated with a photographic print after printing. The phrase also means the sole print never becomes printed ever again and remains one of a kind. Martin uses such a technique in order to enhance the unique qualities of his work which often reflect mortality and have documentary yet theatrical capturing of subjects. Through his travels and experiences, Martin strives to capture precise lighting and angles in order to portray imagery which translates dramatically with high contrast and intricate detail, leaving a notion of grand theatrics.
From sparks flying in the air at a rally to torch-wielding men dressed as minotaurs to wild Spanish horses and silhouetted figures standing on top of infrastructure, Martin’s imagery never proves to be typical or familiar. His landscapes are equally as thrilling as his figurative depictions as they often capture remote, desolate locations reflecting urban or rural decay as well as natural wonders which evoke poetic concepts. These thoughtful photographs are carefully captured and represent a photographer who works in both digital and format photography but always carries with him an analog eye and experience.
One of Martin’s rural landscapes (pictured above) depicts an almost apocalyptic scene of a remote desert. The dilapidated structures seem to echo the gritty environment and reflect notions of both freedom and despair. Like a scene out of a Mad Max film or modern Western cinema, Martin captures the essence of a unique landscape simply through exploration and his sophisticated ways of capturing imagery.
Martin Waern explores the various urban and remote locales to identify improvised subject matter which reflect theatrical and dramatic effects. He can be described as a great communicator who alludes the viewer towards a narrative, only to provide more mystery. His bold and gritty photographic style captured in both DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) and format photography reflects an eclectic approach to providing his audience with original source material through identifying selective cropped imagery, which has poetic and philosophical purpose. Much like an explorer, Martin travels to the unknown in order to identify his unusual and unique subject matter. His captured imagery remains mysterious to the masses which means he does either extensive traveling or research in order to identify his opus.
