We were lucky to catch up with Heather Martin recently and have shared our conversation below.
Heather, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?
The short answer: yes, I am happy as an artist and business owner!
However, that’s not to say I don’t have moments of sadness or frustration, especially since I am a pretty emotional person. But those feelings come from the love I have for what I do and the pressure I put on myself to succeed. That sadness is much different than any feeling of general discontentment and lack of fulfillment from the desk job I used to have. It’s like the ratios have flipped and now I’m generally happy and fulfilled instead of generally “meh”.
My story is interesting in that I actually received my Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida, and worked as an engineer for a few years before deciding to completely change my path. The thing is, I always knew. Even in my internships in college I had this sort of knot in my gut that it was not what I wanted, but I felt stuck on that path. So, I actually had a regular job at one point, and I can definitively say I am much happier now. Whether you prefer the creative way or the regular desk job, it’s about listening to yourself and really thinking about what you want in your life.
In the end, it has all worked out. I don’t regret my degree or my engineering and professional experience. I learned a lot, I learned to think critically, and I gave myself a small sense of financial security to make a drastic change and basically start from scratch. It’s only up from here!
Heather, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am the owner of Heather Martin Media LLC. Because I work through so many different types of medium, whether it’s light, paint, writings, or the landscape, I wanted to create a business and name to reflect that variety. Located in Melbourne, Florida, I work as an artist, photographer, and permaculture gardener. I sell original paintings and prints of my art and photography. I also provide photography services including surf photography, individual portraits, and am the photographer for the local climbing gym. I even take on occasional acrylic or oil painting commissions.
However, my main goals, which I am most proud of, are my longer-term projects as an artist and permaculture gardener. My husband/partner and I are converting our quite average urban plot of grassy lawn into an abundant and beautiful food forest and natural habitat. Not only are we aiming to feed ourselves more diverse and nutritious food, but also support a diverse array of wildlife. Florida is an amazing place to grow plants all year round, and it also has an amazing number of fascinating native flora, fauna, and fungi. I am documenting all of the species we encounter in iNaturalist, a citizen-science app that crowd-sources data to be used by all sorts of scientists and organizations researching various topics. I’m calling my project Backyard Biodiversity, and will create a photographic book showcasing all the species we see right outside our house. I’ve already observed 175 different species on our property, which is less than a quarter of an acre. Nature is right out there under our very noses if we can just open our minds and eyes enough to look.
Lawns, especially in Florida where we live so closely to the water, often are major sources of pollutants. Nitrogen run-off from excess fertilizers causes algae blooms, sea grass die-off, and thus manatee starvation. Phosphorus fertilizer production results in toxic radioactive waste products. Sure, not all of this comes only from backyards; industrial agriculture has a huge role to play. But don’t discount the power of grass-roots movement and knowledge-based changes to the norm, nor the power of many small changes. Even at the small scale, composting, planting native plants, growing fruit trees and perennial and annual food crops, abandoning pesticides and fungicides and chemical fertilizers, and other techniques can have long lasting impacts on our environment, food systems, and individual physical and mental health, for the better. Being responsible for a piece of land should mean stewardship of that land as much as possible. I want to share my own knowledge and experience in making these changes through visual arts and writings. From newsletters and blog posts, to photos and videos, I hope to inspire others to see the world a little differently.
Providing such different services and products keeps my days varied and my mind working. I used to work as a full-time engineer, mostly at a desk all day. I felt so stuck and anxious back then. So the one thing I wasn’t going to do was force myself to pick one lane with my new business. I wanted to be able to experiment and experience what it is I really like. For example, I figured out I didn’t really enjoy wedding or family portrait photography. I said yes in the beginning, which allowed me to really know for sure, and from there I could narrow down my business enterprises and goals. I still enjoy taking surf photos, individual portraits, and climbing photos. These services, along with my paintings and print sales, help me to grow my business from a practical and financial stand point, and give me the freedom to pursue my purely artistic or idea-focused projects.
I grew up lucky enough to be exposed to art, photography, plants, wildlife, and science because of all my amazing family. In college, I chose to study engineering because I excelled at math and science and thought it seemed like a practical career choice. However, I realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do for the next 40 years of my life, just waiting to retire. Instead, I wanted to work for the rest of my life doing something I love. So I started my own business and have been forging my own creative path. As I grow as an artist and grow my business, I’m just learning to balance the practical with my passions and interests.
In the end, I want to inspire others to live more in harmony with nature. Maybe I can inspire someone to start a food forest maintenance company, instead of a lawn care company. Or maybe someone decides to start a composting facility in their town because they learned about soil health and how compost feeds the soil life while fertilizers and pesticides disrupt it. I am by no means the only one discussing these topics, but they are such important topics right now that I wanted to add my artistic voice to the many others trying to be productively hopeful about the future.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
It seems to me like modern society is missing certain things, particularly closeness to nature and diverse, nutritious food. I think these issues can be addressed through learning how to grow food, care for plants, steward the soil, land and water, and live in harmony with the wildlife all around us. I’m not saying everyone needs to try and grow 100% of their own food, especially if they don’t have have access to land or resources, or if their career path keeps them busy with other work. However, there are so many barren grassy lawns, that instead of sources of pollution could be pockets of abundance and biodiversity.
If my mango tree one day produces a hundred mangos, I can share those with friends and family. If my piece of land, less than a quarter acre, can give me lemongrass, collard greens, bananas, blue butterfly pea flowers, strawberries, eggplants, cocoplums, beauty berries, mulberries, lemons, kales, pigeon peas, moringa, coconuts, longevity spinach, katuk, papaya and more (actually, it already gives me most of these and my food forest is only a few years old), and if it can also offer up food and habitat for hundreds of species, it shows there is abundance in the world. I can depend less on food that is picked early and shipped across the world. I can have a wider input of vitamins, minerals, beneficial compounds, and beneficial bacteria to my body. I can reduce food waste that would otherwise go to the landfill. I can depend less on fertilizers and chemicals used for industrial agriculture to feed myself. And I can show others how to do the same. Maybe a farmer who’s been doing something the same way for 30 years can say “Wow, maybe I can change too.” Maybe people will join their HOA boards to make changes to the rules, so instead of maintaining lawns, they maintain food forests.
I enjoy taking surf photos and selling art and painting. But my real mission and my real passion, is to help tilt the scales. To make a difference in my own small way. Because it’s everyone making a difference in their own small way that will make the biggest difference of all.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect is seeing my vision come to life, regardless of the subject matter or medium.
When I can see a wave, snap the shutter at the perfect moment, and bring the image to life with a little editing, I feel like I am able to share the beauty I see in the world at that moment with others. With surfing or climbing, it’s the feeling of movement or potential energy in a single instance that is a joy to capture. With my nature photography or my paintings, it’s the way the light interacts with the subject, and the contrast of colors. I love being able to look at my art and be transported to another time and place.
Particularly with my Backyard Biodiversity project, I love showing people a photo of a large metallic bee that looks like outer space, or a photo of a migrating cedar waxwing and seeing their surprise and awe when I tell them this was in our backyard in the middle of Melbourne, Florida. By planting plants and nurturing the landscape, our backyard has been brought to life in more ways than I could have imagined.
The growth of our food forest still amazes me. I look at old photos of empty grassy space, or a small tree we just planted. Then I look at it now, and it’s this sort of magical botanical garden in my own backyard. The trees are over 6 feet tall, the spaces are filling in with flowers, butterflies zoom down the pathways, dragonflies buzz all around, the smell of crinum lilies fills the air, I harvest some peppers and tomatoes, and it almost doesn’t seem real. Suddenly, I realize this was what I was missing and what I needed all along.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.heathermartinmedia.com
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathermartinmedia/about
- Other: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/backyard-biodiversity-melbourne-fl
Image Credits
Heather Martin