Thoughts

On February 05, 2010 I had the honor of being invited by my friend, client and colleague Mike Jean to photograph the Hope for Haiti fundraiser at Amnesia in NYC. All funds raised that night went to the Red Cross towards their efforts helping earthquake victims in Haiti. It was hosted by Mike Jean, Ally Hilfiger and Valerio St. Louis and featured musical performances by Jennifer Logue, Sean Murphy, Michael Fredo, Karen Anderson, Ashte, Carimi, Shoubou From Tabou Combo, Andy Hilfiger and more.

Here are some highlights from the event:

http://sander-martijn.com/hopeForHaiti

I set up an etsy page at http://sandermartijn.etsy.com where I am selling prints of my work to help fund my next trip to Haiti in December 2010 to take part in the project "A week in the life of Haiti Cherie" where 20 photographers from around the world will go to Haiti for one week to document the country in all it's splendor and beauty along with the unavoidable squalor. Many of the photos are from my past 2 trips to Haiti with a few art pieces as well from other projects. Archival signed prints (unframed) go for as little as $10 and nothing is above $60 (gallery framing). Please consider this as a christmas present for loved ones, and send it on to anyone you know that might be interested.

It's no secret that the music industry is in shambles. Music stores are a thing of the past, the entire concept of "the album" has been turned on it's head, record labels are dying left and right and musicians aren't getting paid. Everyone knows this, and everyone seems to have their own idea of how to solve it but no one really knows what will ultimately happen. Two things I can say with confidence are that the public has an insatiable need for new music and musicians want to create and play. Therefore somehow this has to and will resolve itself because the mess is all about the glue between the most important pieces of this puzzle - the musicians and the consumers. They will remain.

I have recently added Stroudsburg, PA in the Poconos as one of my primary serving areas. I am still working in New York and willing to work anywhere in the world, but have recently relocated to Stroudsburg Pennsylvania.

What does that mean for Stroudsburg? Due to the vibrance of the local music scene my primary interest is in building a relationship with local musicians to provide them with top quality images for album covers, myspace pages and other promotional purposes. However I am providing all of the same services as in New York and will work with anyone to create stellar images. I am currently looking for studio space but have arrangements for certain types of studio work already. I am also taking advantage of the local nature and other features unique to the area.

Epson published an article on my work in Haiti and how the printer they gave me helped me do my work there.

http://epson.ipressroom.com/pr/epson/Sander-Martijns_PM_Zoom_Haitian_Case_Study.aspx

I updated my site today, adding categories, a lot of new photos and a new format for browsing them. Hope you like it.

Also my blog on haiti, now linked on the left, has moved to haiti.sander-martijn.com, which makes a lot more sense. I'm also reformatting the blog to look more like my site.

stay tuned for more tweaks here and there - a new bio, fine tuning the image selections etc. I'm just getting started.

While this is a place for me to share some thoughts and successes in my photography career in a general way, today I created a blog that will be specifically about Haiti, my past and future work there. Take a look and let me know what you think.

sander-martijn.blogspot.com

One of the stylists I work with wrote a commentary on why we as professional artists should always be paid for our work. I have long wanted to write something similar here but was unsure how to phrase it. He does it nicely, so please read it here:

A call to end free labor in the arts By Seth F.

I was interviewed by Kasheik Paisley for Muster Magazine. Watch it by clicking on the image below or on their site.

I am now officially looking for Representatives to help me market my work to new clients. I am particularly interested in finding a Rep for New York and one in London, but am open to any other cities as well.

If you are a Photography Agency or an Independent Representative that would be interested in working with me or if you know of one that would be appropriate for my style and line of work, please contact me.

I am also looking to expand my work in the Music Photography field. It is a skill that comes naturally to me, I have a background in music and I enjoy doing it. In particular I am interested in partnering with Record Labels who are looking to form a long term relationship with a photographer. Again, if you have any information for me regarding this please don't hesitate to contact me.