PHOTOGRAPHER, WRITER, DIRECTOR
Martin Middlebrook originally trained as a wildlife artist before commencing a career as a commercial photographer, eventually turning to photojournalism full time. In 2010 Martin was commissioned by the Government of Afghanistan to produce a photo essay for the Kabul International Conference, a series of images that went on to exhibit at the British Museum in London in 2011. Martin has also written over 80 articles for many of the UK’s leading photography magazines, including being lead columnist for Professional Photographer Magazine.
Martin’s work from Afghanistan has exhibited at the Foto 8 Summer exhibition, and been awarded Honourable Mentions at the International Photography Awards, ‘Editorial – War/Conflict’ and ‘A Deeper Perspective’ category. He was a winner in the inaugural ‘The Other Hundred’ humanitarian photography competition.
He has worked on assignment in Nepal documenting the plight of Bhutanese refugees for a five-part TV series, again for Arte. As part of the assignment Arte broadcast a documentary about Martin, his thoughts on photography and his working processes.
In 2014 he travelled to the Omo Valley in Ethiopia crafting a portfolio of portraits of the famous tribes that live in the ‘seat of humanity’. He once again received an Honourable Mention at the 2015 International Photography Awards.
In 2016 Martin worked with Stop Ivory creating an exhibition and book for the CITES (CoP17). His images from this project have been published widely around the world.
In 2017, he directed a documentary for Arte TV called 'Roohullah - Forgotten', a reportage about an Afghan refugee who fled to the Netherlands to avoid being killed by the Taliban. It was broadcast in November 2017.
In 2021/2 Martin worked with Climate Counsel to collect evidence of massacres, murder and intimidation of indigenous and traditional people in northern Brazil, for purposes of land grabbing. His worked combined with Climate Counsel and Interprt was submitted as a communication to the International Criminal Court in The Hague with the hope that they might investigate a network of actors engaged in Crimes Against Humanity.
Additionally in 2022, he co-directed a documentary with French comic book artist Nicolas Wild, for Arte TV, about the history and the control of water in Palestine and Israel - a film that was broadcast in December 2022 and provided Arte with one of their largest audiences of the year.
“I have been working with Martin for a while and I always come to the same conclusion: beside that fact that he is a remarkable photographer, his mind is totally receptive to his environment. Not only does he capture the moment, but he also takes time to give it concrete meaning. Be it in the preparation of his work or in the field he always goes to the heart of the matter.
In his work emotion is neither fake nor a ‘one-size-fits-all’ tool. Behind the photograph, there is always a story of men and women that Martin seizes perfectly. To sum it up, he has all the qualities that are the trademark of great witnesses.”
Philippe Brachet – Editor in Chief for Arte Reportage.
"Martin Middlebrook worked with Stop Ivory on a photographic assignment in Northern Kenya to capture the beauty and challenges of protecting Africa's Elephant.
Martin’s images have been extraordinary in helping to portray the vital role we all have to play to ensure Elephant live and thrive beyond our generation. The past three years have seen a transformational change across the world on how we all perceive elephant with a recognition that buying ivory kills Elephant. Martin's images have played a subtle but vitally important role in influencing this change."
Ian Craig, OBE - Chairman, Northern Rangelands Trust and trustee of Stop Ivory
Martin lives in Paris. He can be contacted at:
Tel: +33 (0) 6 69 74 22 96
© Image courtesy David Belluz