Who Am I?

Although my father was a big fan of photography, a great hobbyist, and pushed for me to do the same, it was not until 2001 when I started to take seriously the craftsmanship of photography. While I started out with film, for the last 16 years I have worked almost exclusively in digital. I attended architectural school in Mexico City, and that has made the way I observe and understand what is in front of me unique. I have taught photography for 13 years, which has given me insight into other people's creative minds and how they interpret the same scenes differently from me. They are neither wrong nor right; it's just different. Of course, some techniques and certain perspectives from the vast world of art inform what is and what is not beautiful or creative or original. But my truth is that I don't view these opinions as fully the truth or fully a lie. I absorb and use them, while remaining pragmatic and honest with my own craft, which I enjoy sharing with students. I've been lucky to have the opportunities to travel the world and (because I want to) see pleasant things - things that I enjoy and that become my passion. It helps me to flourish and enjoy what I do.

I’m sharing with you “My Memento”, Photographs made just now or at different times or different places but, at the same time very intimate because they mean something to me now, or before, or certainly in the future, and all of this Mementos make me who I am now. 

I’m Francisco Marin, architectural and fine art photographer, photography instructor and I in love with the art of making images. Welcome to “My Memento”. Enjoy.

“A photograph is neither taken or seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you. One must not take photos.” 

– Henri Cartier-Bresson

“Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes a precise moment in time.”

– Henri Cartier-Bresson

“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.”

– Henri Cartier-Bresson