Feature Artist: D-Kay
An Interview With: Martin
Dr. Christophers: Please give me a little background on where you come from and the lifestyle that set in motion your desire to become an artist.
Martin: My handle is D-Kay from London, 39 years young! It all started when I was in my early teens and the time one best remebers as school holidays. We would go to the now sadly converted Long Grove Asylum in Epsom, part the famous five hospitals that surround it. West Park, Horton, Manor, and St Ebbas being the others. Browseing through the old patient records and wandering around the eerie made up beds in the various wards in this vast complex of hospital and mental health buildings.
Dr. Christophers: How did it all start for you with regards to your inspiration for making art? Who and what were the main inspirations for your style of artwork?
Martin: It was some 25 years later that I saw a rather small blog and some fasciniating pictures from Cane Hill that reminded me of my time at Long Grove. The blog/forum was run by a bloke called Dave Baker (Sophos9) and the contributing artists was himself, Andre Govia, Frits Vrielink and Jeremy Gibbs. Looking at the HDR stuff these people were producing were blowing me away and I was hooked. Dave was running a small treasure hunt, finding a new location, an asylum in Norwich in which I manged to crack with the help of a few friends, its here that I combined my passion for exploring along with photography..
It was about this time that I was asked to help make the website TalkUrbex more prominent on the net and started moderator duties. TalkUrbex then become very popular among the Urbex HDR community. But with the birth of my little girl I had to take a step back from it.
Dr. Christophers: Talk about the medium you use mostly and why - talk about process.
Martin: Still using a Canon 450D at the moment with various prime and wide angle lenses but frantically saving for 5d MKIII or a D800.
It all starts with 7 or 9 brackets at +/- 1 ev depending on the look that I want to achieve in the final image. Then it's into camera RAW for basic adjustments. The initial HDR is configured using Photomatix or HDR Efex Pro depending on the look I want then reimportred into Photoshop CS5 for final touch up. Software: I rely on Nik Software Complete Edition, Noise Ninja, Fluid Mask and Topaz Labs.
Dr. Christophers: In your eyes, your most memorable moments you had "Urbexing", can you give me an example?
Martin: I don't know about memorial works, as I feel all my work tells a different story or how I was feeling at the time of processing, but the most memorial time I had had to be the Berlin Invasion Tour. 14 blokes from England, Holland, Belgium, France, and Denmark. 4 days of chaos rolling up to about 12 locations in a mini bus!
Dr. Christophers: Talk to me about your designs (wishes) for the future with regards to your photographic artwork, etc.
Martin: The future for me is to travel around a bit more. I'd love to go to Pripyat, Russia, Japan and tour the USA. But these days it all takes money and with a family now, time and money is not on my side. Also, learning new techniques and I've always wanted to do some model shots with a UE backdrop and feel to them.
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Description: Urbex Photography by D-Kay
Medium: Digital: Photomanipulation to High Dynamic Range (Urban Exploration)
Online & Contact Information: Portfolio; Website
