Nicky Martin, behind the camera
About

I took the
scenic route.

Horse shows. Weddings. Christenings. Architecture. Family portraits, kids, a stint in modern glamour. If it could be photographed, I've probably photographed it, starting back when my own kids were barely crawling.

Even though I was really good at arty stuff, I grew up intending to go down the sensible path. I studied accounting at uni, worked at the ATO for six years, then was a police officer for fourteen years. I can only explain this incredible responsibleness down to hearing something at some point about art keeping you poor, and I believed them.

Inquire
The studio in Rowville

An artist's impression — because reality rarely cooperates with three opinionated dogs.

The Long Way Round

Craft-led,
from home.

I quit the safe government job in 2011 to go all in on photography, then spent the better part of a decade trying on different versions of it, looking for the one that fit. By 2019 I'd nearly given up and gone back to a "proper job".

Then the world locked down, and I started driving trucks. I absolutely loved it. But — five days after my second vax, I had a seizure — my first ever, mid-shift, driving my truck. No truck driving for ten years. No driving at all for one year. Those first four years were rough: different seizure meds, lost feelings, and unsure of where I fit in.

I enrolled in interior design, real estate and journalism courses and barely touched them. I tried a website design business. Then filmmaking. Then car detailing. Somewhere in there I was talked into photography again by a dear friend. I chose to specialise in a genre I knew I was pretty good at. Dogs and kids. And Hound & Heir was born.

But I had only one dog shoot in twelve months. I wasn't promoting it. I wasn't talking about it. I wasn't feeling it. Turns out I was the thing standing in my own way.

In the studio
Turns Out This Was It

The genre
that fit.

What I actually wanted was to shoot without a client watching me work — on my own time, at my own pace, with room to get it wrong before I got it right. Product photography gave me exactly that: creative, solitary, professional, and not really time-critical.

It's also the first genre that's let me lean all the way into the dark, moody aesthetics, creative use of props and colours, and experiment with lighting techniques.

I'm an introvert who loves working alone. Turns out it's just the right operating manual for my business. I still work closely with every client to nail their brief, but compared to having clients in front of the camera, they're in and out of the studio with their products or just a phone call or email away.

Off the Clock

Life outside
the studio.

On the clock: the dogs are less pets and more unofficial office staff — equal parts moral support and mild chaos, especially when a shoot's gone sideways.

Off the clock: a long novel (especially by Aussie authors) or a movie, more plants getting repotted than strictly necessary, and a soft spot for pottering in the garden or detailing The Boss.

Weekends usually call for watching the mighty Blue Baggers, the V8 Supercars, perhaps a good pub lunch if we go on a cruise, especially in an old Victorian town, or just enjoying the rays of the sun.

And I confess, this website regularly gets tweaked more than it probably should. And while we're confessing, I am a Home & Away tragic.

Life outside the studio
Buddy, the eldest
Rusty
Ollie, the youngest

Let's talk about
your brand.

Inquire
Studio life, left Studio life, centre Studio life, right