Martin Coyne - Photographer Doing The Work He Loves
SUBvert magazine gives talented photographers and illustrators the opportunity to come along to festivals with us, but quite often we find enthusiasm and talent isn’t always enough.
Some people find fear takes over, and they lose their nerve; turning down life changing opportunities that they always go on to regret. So,we thought we would introduce two people we met at Glastonbury Festival who are actually living their dreams and doing jobs they love. First is photographer Martin Coyne.
Martin grew up in Bellshill, a satellite town of Glasgow that sired bands such as Teenage Fanclub, The BMX Bandits and De Rosa. Apart from musical exports, Bellshill doesn’t have much else going for it and Martin realised he best get the hell out.
He escaped to Glasgow where he was first introduced to photography. Having a deep passion for music he discovered that if you took photos of bands you not only got into gigs for nothing, but got a boss (great) view as well.
After a few years of working for various publications, he came to the conclusion he had ambitions other than being a press photographer. It also inspired a voyage of discovery that involved a year of making landscape images in West Dorset and culminated with him enrolling on a BA Photography course at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth.
In 2003 he was commissioned to make a project involving Gypsies in the New Forest area that resulted in a book, several publications and two major exhibitions.
Recently he traveled to Malawi to film and edit an Aids/HIV education film, whilst there he produced a body of photographic work entitled ‘Crossing the Line’. Two of the images from this project were selected to be hung in the Royal West Academy’s first open photography exhibition.
He still loves photographing music, and he has spent most of this summer in the place he loves best - right in front of the stage. In October he will be traveling to China to work on a commission to make portraits of shoe factory workers.
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