Paul Martin

b. 1864 — d. 1944

Paul Martin British, b. France, 1864-1944 Paul Augustus Martin is best known for pioneering work in the field of candid or instantaneous photography now associated with the snapshot. Born in Herbeuville, Martin immigrated with his family to England in 1873. He apprenticed as a wood engraver at age 16 and took up photography as a pastime in 1884. Using the newly invented small, hand-held detective camera, he began capturing the informal public scenes that would become his trademark. In 1892 Martin opened a studio with H. G. Dorrett and continued to pursue unusual aspects of the medium, such as the night photography that provided the material for his article "Around London by Gaslight," published in the Amateur Photographer (October 9 and 16, 1896). A member of the West Sussex Photographic Society and the Linked Ring, Martin won numerous awards from the Royal Photographic Society. He produced studio work until 1926, then photographed for newspapers and magazines. Martin's revealing, instantaneous views of London prompted Cecil Beaton to dub him "the Charles Dickens of photography." T.W.F.