Cade Martin, the photographer behind Capitol Communicator’s profile series, has been recognized as one of the top 200 advertising photographers in the world.  But, what earned him that reputation and distinction?  Here, in his own words, Cade pulls back the curtain a bit to “share the how, the creative collaboration, the image making, and the post production, that is often a true technical marvel that elevates photography and adds magic all its own.”

According to Cade:

“While I like to share my work, to have the images I make – both commissioned and personal projects – find an interested and intrigued audience, sometimes I’m reluctant to give too much away, to walk people through the entirety of my process, or to talk about things in too technical of terms. Are photographs to be seen and not heard? I’ve never been one to geek-out on camera equipment. What I do trust and rely on is relationships, not only with my clients, but depending on the project, I’ve learned that the right post-production artist ensures a strong creative synergy and ultimately the best possible finish. But there always remains that little voice in the back of my head that whispers “doesn’t the magic disappear if you talk about it?”

“So when the opportunity to contribute to photo blogger Scott Kelby’s blog, to pull back the curtain a bit came my way, it got me thinking that perhaps the magic is also in the process itself. How an idea becomes a final image is a story worth telling. And storytelling is a core value in my photography. With each final image I make, my goal is for it to feel like a still out of a movie filmstrip, with its story living beyond any one frame. I’ve always believed in the vital nature of the journey, and these still images don’t exist in a vacuum. So it made sense to celebrate and share the how, the creative collaboration, the image making, and the post production, that is often a true technical marvel that elevates photography and adds magic all its own.

“Yet sharing the process – the whole thing – is living on the edge for me. And while I have started to push myself and share more of my process and inspirations from project to project on both my Tumblr and @cademartinphoto  pages, for this exercise I went back and chose eight different projects to show more than just images, and to tell of the experimentation and exploration, of technique and tweaking and testing and collaboration. These are my postcards from the edge.”