AARON MARTINEZ PHOTOGRAPHY
based In texas & capturing stories all around the world
AARON MARTINEZ PHOTOGRAPHY
based In texas & capturing stories all around the world
About
My Story
Hey there! My name is Aaron Martinez. I’m a young man from a small town called Norfolk, Nebraska, with big dreams! Some people think I’m just excited about being my own boss, traveling the world, or taking pictures. But that’s not the whole story. I’m most excited about the part where I get to make people smile, not with a piece of cake,
Hey there! My name is Aaron Martinez. I’m a young man from a small town called Norfolk, Nebraska, with big dreams! Some people think I’m just excited about being my own boss, traveling the world, or taking pictures. But that’s not the whole story. I’m most excited about the part where I get to make people smile, not with a piece of cake, but with a piece of the memories we create together.
My journey began in 2020, during my freshman year of high school. I attended a wedding of an old friend and was captivated by the photos taken by the hired photographer. As the chatty guy I am, I couldn’t resist asking her a bunch of questions about her life as a photographer. To my surprise, she even let me take a few shots, which was my first time holding a camera. In that moment, I knew this was what I was meant to do.
The next day, I asked my mom if I could get a camera, but it was really expensive, so I had to get a job. At the age of 15, I landed my first job as a field attendant at a baseball park. I knew I had to work long hours to save up for that camera, but in the meantime, I practiced on my phone and took pictures of anything that caught my eye.
Months passed, and I started to get discouraged. I felt like I would never be able to afford that camera. Then, one Sunday morning, an elder from my church, Charles Petty, approached me. He introduced himself and got to know me a bit. Charles seemed to have a knack for finding common ground with everyone he met. When I told him my dream of becoming a photographer, his eyes widened in surprise.
He shared stories of his own photography career and asked me about the type of camera I owned. I didn’t even have to tell him that I didn’t have one. He already knew that I didn’t. So, he drives me to his car and pulls out this camera I’d seen before. He says, “Here, I want you to have this. It’s my first camera ever.” I was in awe. Just when I was about to give up on my dream, God blessed me with an angel in Charles to lift me back up and keep me going. Sadly, Charles passed away in January 2025—a sad day for all of us who knew him well. He didn’t care about leaving a legacy on Earth, but he did, and it just gives me even more reason to keep going because I know Charles would’ve loved it. My life has been an insane roller coaster, but I wouldn’t change the way things went, good or bad; it made me the man I am today.