BIO
Details
My name is Jennifer Martinez and I am so glad you are here. I have created this site to share a little bit of me. The images I capture and the words that I share are from my heart. I share them with cariño (heartfelt love and affection).
Making them has been part of my healing journey in life. My hope is that the images bring you the peace they brought me when I captured and processed them. And that my words, which I'm gonna be honest are sometimes a jumbled mess, strike something inside you that is relatable and maybe even hopeful.
Photography and writing have gotten me through some of my toughest journeys in life. Through pain and loss, they were the tools that helped me heal. They have also been a tool of mine to help inspire others and create hope for positive change. I hope you find something here that does this for you.
At my core, I am an educator. The field of education, in K-12 and Community Based Organizations, has been life's work, and I hope that you can learn a little something coming here too. Be sure to click the photos and uncover opportunities for learning, including an acknowledgment of the land that they are captured on and information about the tribes the land belongs to.
Some of the photos in my portfolio are available for purchase and 10% of every sale's proceeds goes to Real Rent Duwamish.
Though I am based in the Pacific Northwest now, I was born and raised in Santa Fe, NM. For more on where I am from and the foundation that holds me up today, see below.
I am from...
Soy de sangre y tierra
From the conquered and the conqueror
Historic trauma and historic resilience
I am from Yucca plants and tumbleweeds
Storytelling
The music of my grandfather
The faith of my grandmother
I am from Teal skies and blood-red sunsets
Sitting around the table cleaning beans and gossiping
The smell of chile roasting
My mother’s love and my father’s humor
I am from “Eee you think you are ALL cool”
Sunny days spent daydreaming and cracking open rocks
The sound of coyotes yipping and dirt roads crunching
From hot summer nights eating popsicles on the porch
I am from celebrations of life
Tears of sorrow for those I’ve lost
Generation upon generation upon generation
connected to the blood and earth of the southwest