In Creating Imagery, Photographers Should Be Willing to Wade into Uncharted Waters

Cade Martin Tempts an Old Legend With "Island of the Dolls"

Cade Martin is not one to shy away from the bizarre, imaginary, or superstitious. He believes that if you never move beyond your comfort zone, you will never find the beauty that can come from the unfamiliar. It’s this willingness to go into uncharted waters that clients admire and seek out for their projects. Cade’s interest in stories and unique narratives paired with his limitless imagination pulled him to explore the legend of the Xochimilco canal in Mexico.

Not only has Cade mastered creating imagery that pulls us into his imagination, he is also a great storyteller. We wanted to share Cade’s telling of this project and how this story inspired him.?We thought today, Día de los Muertos, was the perfect opportunity to bring light to this legend. Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead in English, is a holiday celebrated primarily in Mexico, where people are able to celebrate and honor the lives of loved ones. This legend honors a young girl’s spirit and a man who spent his life trying to appease this young girl’s spirit,?which exemplifies the essence of the holiday.

“I have always loved a good story, with great characters and the opening sentence “Legend has it…”

These are stories to tell around the campfire, to pass along and keep alive – but some stories, I’ve just got to see for myself. The?Island?of the?Dolls?is such a tale.

Legend has it, a little girl drowned entangled among?the?lilies?of?the?Xochimilco canal. Her body was found on?the?banks?of?one?of?the?islands?by?Don Julian Santana Barrera.

Julian was?the?caretaker?of?the?island?and, shortly thereafter,?he found a?doll?floating nearby and, assuming it belonged to?the?deceased girl, hung it from a tree as a sign?of?respect to support?the?spirit?of?the?girl.?After this, he began to hear whispers, footsteps, and anguished wails in?the?darkness even though his hut – hidden deep inside?the?woods?of?Xochimilco – was miles away from civilization.

Driven by fear, he spent?the?next fifty years hanging more and more?dolls, some missing body parts, all over?the?island?in?an attempt to appease what he believed to be?the?drowned girl’s spirit.

After 50 years?of?collecting?dolls?and hanging them on?the?island, Julian was found dead?in?2001, reportedly found?in?the?exact spot where he found?the?girl’s body fifty years before.”

#LegendHasIt

What did you learn on this project?

Other than the fact that my wife says that I may or may not have unleashed a curse by going to the Island of the Dolls, I am reminded that I love a great adventure. It’s something I’m always happy to relearn.?

I grew up reading?Tintin, and Tintin adventures are what I always wanted to have. As a kid, comics took me everywhere and the lack of boundaries was and has been very inspirational. As an adult the camera has been my passport,?chasing characters and stories is something I inherently do.

What is a memorable moment?

The memorable moment was originally simply reading about the Island of the Dolls,?it was so strange/creepy/riveting/surreal that it immediately had its hooks in me and I knew I had to go.?

The kernel of one personal project can inspire and inform the next. I file all of it under my continuing education and when I find a subject that I want to know more about, I jump in and see where it will take me, what I will learn about myself, and from those that I meet along the way.

What would you like people to take away after seeing your work?

Many of my personal images happen as the result of a habit I have of?seizing on an opportunity?or stumbling into something that I’ve heard about or want to know more about.?

As for all of my personal projects, I really do the work for myself.?I’m happy if people enjoy the work but I do the work selfishly. That’s not to say that I don’t want people to see it, and I have to admit that I was more than a little curious how people were going to react to this series of images from?Isla de las Mu?ecas.?As with any great story, you want to know more, I wanted these images to invoke that same curiosity and sense of adventure.

Follow Cade on?Instagram?to see more imagery created from chasing characters and stories, and finding beauty in the unfamiliar.

Heather Elder is the owner of Heather Elder Represents; an agency dedicated to representing photographers and directors. Steeped in service, she is inspired by those with the gift to craft moments, tell stories visually, and who do it for a living.