Michael Martin
Born and raised beneath the peaks of the Oregon Cascades, I’ve had the privilege of the outdoors being the anchoring piece in my life for as long as I can remember. I was introduced early to climbing, skiing, backpacking, biking, slacklining, and rafting by family and mentors who believed the outdoor space is as much a teacher as it is a playground. The experiences I am fortunate to have continue to teach me to respect the terrain, trust the people beside me, and lean into challenge. The Cascades shaped the way I think about adventure, resilience, and the importance of doing hard things and enjoying the entire process — lessons I carry today.
Over the years, that foundation has grown into an ethos of treating every landscape I move through as an extension of home. Whether returning to the hidden nooks of the Cascades, wandering the red rock canyons of Southern Utah, or testing myself in the high alpine of the Tetons and Sierra, my goal in that space has always been the same — to know these places intimately enough that they feel like The Backyard. The more time I spend in these ranges, the more they raise my sense of curiosity, humility, and adventure. They’ve become the settings for the hardest things I’ve done and have provided the experiences I have learned the most from.
Photography is a tool that I love to share the stories that come from these experiences. I try to document things in a way that gives a sense of what that present moment was like – the alpine starts, sunrise stoke, the last steps onto the summit, the flow in the descents, the celebration of feet back on the ground – all of the things that are hard to put into words, I try to show instead. I hope that if you’re here and take the time to click through my work, something from these moments can come through the screen and offer a glimpse into what these landscapes and experiences provide.
“A venturesome minority will always be eager to set off on their own, and no obstacles should be placed in their path; let them take risks, for godsake, let them get lost, sunburnt, stranded, drowned, eaten by bears, buried alive under avalanches - that is the right and privilege of any free American.” - Edward Abbey