Photographer based in Miami, FL
Alejandro Manuel Martinez, Portrait of the photographer.
Tell us about yourself, what's your background?
I’m Alejandro Manuel Martinez, a photographer based in Miami, Florida. Art has always played a significant role in my life—it’s something I was surrounded by from the very beginning. I come from a family where creativity and expression were always present, whether in music, design, or visual art, so it felt like a natural part of my environment growing up.
As I got older, I found myself attracted to extreme, physical spaces. Skating and surfing became a big part of my life, and art never left; it just took on a different form. Tattoos, self-expression through style, and the culture around those activities all felt deeply connected to the same creative energy I grew up around. It was all synonymous. I’d constantly look at photography in magazines or the CD covers of my favorite bands in awe, admiring the way an image could stop you, pull you in, and make you feel something without saying a word.
At one point, I tried painting on canvas, but it didn’t fully click for me. What I realized, though, is that I’d always been taking pictures - on my phone, capturing people, light, moments that felt real to me. Then I took a trip to New York City. There I discovered Helen Levitt and William Klein, and was immediately hooked. Eventually, I picked up a manual camera, and something just locked into place. Now, my work focuses on the intersection of culture, identity, and human experience. I’m interested in the stories people carry and their lived experiences. Photography, for me, is about honoring those voices while connecting us through something more universal: what it means to be human.
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
“My work focuses on the intersection of culture, identity, and human experience. I’m interested in the stories people carry and their lived experiences. Photography, for me, is about honoring those voices while connecting us through something more universal: what it means to be human."
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?
I’m currently working on Ambiente Familiar, a photographic project focusing on a 5.5-mile stretch of Miami that includes portraits, interiors, and street scenes, capturing overlooked narratives with honesty and emotional depth. The inspiration comes from my family background, as I was born and raised in Miami, the son of a Cuban immigrant, and from this particular stretch of the city that I’ve known my whole life. It’s an area made up of several interwoven neighborhoods that have changed dramatically over the years. It was once predominantly Cuban, but now it’s a mosaic of cultures that range from mainly Central American to South American, and those population shifts have left deep marks on the landscape, language, and social dynamics. Walking or driving through it feels like passing through different worlds stitched together by a shared sense of struggle, identity, and adaptation. That complexity of place, memory, and transformation is a huge part of what drives the project.
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
Music, literature, and film have helped me understand how places can be both beautiful and broken, how people survive, adapt, and hold onto themselves in the process. Recently, I’ve started learning how to use a large-format field camera, which has shifted the way I approach image-making, slowing me down even more, and I've also begun traveling around the state to expand on this work and explore new communities. I hope to offer a more honest, human-centered view of Miami that challenges familiar narratives and honors the complexity of overlooked lives through Ambiente Familiar.
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in a creative practice. What do you do for inspiration?
I listen to music regularly, try to watch at least one movie per day, tune into photo-related podcasts, and read poetry. However, as important as those things are, silence and meditation are just as much. Those daily habits keep me creatively engaged and emotionally open. I'm always looking for visual language, emotional tones, or even small narrative threads that help me process the world and reflect that in my work.
Growing up in Miami has also impacted me not just visually, but emotionally. There was plenty of inspiration for me to discover through my upbringing in this city. Miami is a place that is full of contradictions, where beauty and struggle constantly crash into each other. That tension and how it shows up in people's lives, whether my own or strangers', has always pulled me in.
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
I was surrounded by art primarily through my mom's side of the family at a very young age and was also immersed in extreme sports and street culture early on, too. That combination shaped how I understand expression, not just in traditional forms like painting or literature, but in tattoos, music, and the way people carry themselves. That grit and sensitivity still guide how I approach photography and connecting with strangers.
Green Day, one of my favorite bands growing up, has a song called Welcome to Paradise. The line: “Some call it slums, some call it nice…" mirrors the way Miami is often misunderstood or romanticized, and it reminds me to look deeper. I recently curated a playlist of all the songs that have inspired me throughout the project, which I may be sharing sooner or later as a way to extend the experience beyond the photographs. For me, inspiration isn’t just about seeking something new; it’s about staying present, paying close attention, and allowing complexity to guide the work. It’s in the small moments that may seem insignificant at first, the contradictions, and the bug that keeps buzzing around your ear.
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
Who are your biggest influences?
My family and friends, as well as the people in my hometown.
Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?
Absolutely. A mix of books and films has shaped my thinking while working on Ambiente Familiar. Camus’ The Stranger and Rimbaud’s A Season in Hell have both influenced the overall emotional tone of the project. They tap into this sense of existential displacement and quiet resistance that I often see in the lives of the people I interact with and photograph. Films like The Grapes of Wrath and Drugstore Cowboy portray dignity amid economic struggle and marginalization. There’s a quote from Drugstore Cowboy that stuck with me and it starts by saying: “Nothing is more life‑affirming than getting the shit kicked out of you… You can buck the system, but you can’t buck the dark forces that lie hidden beneath the surface…” That sense of surrender to the uncontrollable, whether you call it destiny, superstition, or just a series of unfolding events that no one person can control and feels like being swept along by the current of everything around you, is something I see echoed in the everyday survival of many of the people in this project.
"Ambiente Familiar" - 2023 - 2025. All photographs were made in Miami, FL
There’s also a strong current of dark humor in the work, which is why I’ve always been drawn to Polyester by John Waters. The way Miami is portrayed in the media as this glossy, aspirational paradise feels disconnected from the Miami I’m photographing. There’s a line in Polyester where La Rue says, “Let’s move to Miami! Finally, I can get my face-lift… so I can ride around and laugh at poor people!” It’s so absurd, but also revealing of the kind of fantasy that’s projected onto this city. On the other end of the emotional spectrum, Il Demonio by Brunello Rondi made a lasting impression on me for its rawness and the way it exposes how invisible forces (social, cultural, even spiritual) shape people’s lives in ways that are hard to pinpoint but deeply felt. There’s a moment in the film when the protagonist says, “I am one of the invisibles of this world,” and that line struck a chord with me. It speaks directly to the emotional reality of many of the people I photograph, whose stories are overlooked or dismissed, yet who carry entire worlds within them. All of these works inform how I think about survival, identity, and the layers of reality that exist just beneath the surface.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received came from a Bob Dylan song. He says, “You need something to open up a new door, to show you something you’ve seen before, but overlooked a hundred times or more.” It reminds me that inspiration doesn’t always come from something new; it can come from the familiar, if you're willing to look again, or deeper than you did before.
What is the best advice you would give to other artists?
Keep an open heart and mind so your eyes can follow, move forward with sensitivity, and don't be hesitant to hit the brakes.
Stay up to date with Alejandro Manuel Martinez
Website alejandromanuel.net
Instagram @alejandromanuel__