Meet Xavier Martínez: the winner of MedFoto 2021 and jury of the 2022 edition
“When I go out to see birds, it’s not just to take pictures of them, but because they interest me and I want to protect them”
The author of the 2022 winning photo explains how he got started in photography and how he got a winning image.
Now, Martínez is part of the jury for MedFoto 2023 and gives us some clues about what he values the most in photographs.
How did you start in the world of bird photography?
I started going bird watching with a group from Terrassa, the Pigot, which no longer exists.
Then came a time when I wanted to try to capture the birds I saw and I started doing photographic hunting, going out for a walk and taking a picture if I saw a bird. So I bought myself an analog camera and a zoom. The truth is that it was quite fair in quality for what I wanted to do. I tried, but I saw that I was not quite convinced of the result. Photographic hunting is complicated because when the bird sees you it immediately leaves. Here in Spain, the birds are very alert. The moment you raise the camera they leave.
Around 2003, the technique called digiscoping, with which you combine a telescope and a digital camera, emerged. So I bought a good birdwatching telescope, attached the 4.5 megapixel digital camera to the eyepiece and took pictures. It had a brutal zoom and although the quality was not wonderful, you took the bird home! Then I bought a Canon, with a 100-400 lens which I have always used and even my daughter still uses. Then I upgraded with the new version of the same lens, faster and with better performance.
And you gave up digiscoping!
Sure! First, I could not transport both equipment and despite not getting the same zoom, with the new equipment I did get better quality. I discovered that there were entities that organize boat trips and I began to sign up for almost all of them, especially those of the GEPEC-EdC of Tarragona and those of Apnae in the Empordà. From then on, it became a vice! I needed to go out to sea and see that spectacle of birds around above, below, on the sides… It’s extraordinary!
Was it in one of these outings that you achieved the winning photograph of MedFoto 2022?
Yes, off the coast of Tarragona! In these activities you leave from the port and, once out to sea, fish is thrown. Seagulls begin to follow you. The other birds, when they see that movement, come closer. That day, when we came back, the sunlight made us backlit and usually people no longer take pictures. I was sitting by a window and I saw how some shearwaters were still flying at the level of the water. I got her! I did a burst, and when I saw them, I loved that image. I was sure this photograph had to win something!
How did you get the Shearwater photography, was it about hitting the moment or having the technique?
I have done many boat trips. I confess that, at first, the results were a disaster. The camera weighs more than three kilos and the boat does not stop moving! I remember that I came home covered in bruises on my legs. As I went out, I took practice and technique. Shearwater is very fast and you have to know how to follow her and adapt to the situation. In that case, it was very sudden!
As its author, what do you think that makes it special?
There are people who think that the limit of the wave is the horizon, but it is not so! All you see in this photograph is the sea! I think that all this contributes to creating a very beautiful composition: the combination of colors and textures, the wave, the wing almost touching, the reflection of the bird on the wave… In addition, it conveys this feeling of the need to protect wildlife . When I go out to see birds it is not only to photograph them, but because I am interested in them and I want to protect them. I think that with photography we have this tool: being able to make known what a Balearic Shearwater is and the dangerous situation in which it finds itself. It is an opportunity to protect her. She deserves everyone’s respect and admiration. Nature photographers have that advantage. Being able to transmit our conservationist feeling by offering beautiful images, knowledge and transferring that need for conservation and respect to others.
What do you value in a bird photograph?
Since I’m a graphic designer, I think what I pay most attention to is composition and color. I try that all my photographs have a good composition, a good design: the color, the textures… I like to get photographs of the birds that have something special. As in the case of the photo of Shearwater, there are people who at first sight believe that they see the sea and the sky, and it is not like that, it is all sea.
You also take pictures of nature and of other animals, right?
I focused on taking photos of birds, but I’m just as interested in a bird as a spider, I like all animals. All of them deserve to live. That’s why I also do macros, it’s a world that I love! You appreciate the smallest details of insects, like the hair of a fly or the spectacular eyes of spiders. On the other hand, it is more difficult to take proper photos of mammals, unless you have a special hiding place and bait it so that it goes every day. The bird is easier to see, you have a better chance of taking a photo that looks good for you, and also making yourself a hiding place to observe and photograph them from less distance. Unfortunately, due to health problems, I haven’t touched the camera for a little over a year and the truth is that I’m dying to go out again in a boat and capture some flight at water level!
