About Martin

β€œThe best way to predict your future is to create it.”
– Abraham Lincoln

martin hurley australian photographer

Who Be The Hurley Kid?

My name is Martin Hurley. I’m basically a highly creative case-study with a wicked enthusiasm for the good things in life. I’ve been fortunate to explore and photograph places you might never see in a lifetime or two.

See my adventure photography here and my [older] travel photography here.

We’re talking from Chittagong (ship-breaking yards) in Bangladesh (crazy, misty, chaotic, dusty!), to the massive Kumbh Mela holy festival, near Allahabad in India (held once every 12 years), where all my time was spent with just one small bag as ALL my other gear was aboard a plane destined elsewhere!

Man, can I tell you a story about that!

Just imagine you rock up at Kathmandu (Nepal) and you quickly realise it’s like, rather (seriously) COLD up there. You look around for your backpack (with all that warm gear tucked inside) but hmmm — can’t see it anywhere…

Fast walk to Indian Airlines counter.

The airline chaps don’t know either. You begin to get a little concerned…

Anyway – I’ll tell that story in depth later but I guess the key is to ALWAYS prepare. Don’t do what I did – ie. find yourself in Kathmandu wearing shorts and a lightweight jacket just because you thought India’s climate was always hot.

Well, it is hot. But gee it gets COLD too. Hello Himalayas!

 

darjeeling

I could go on about India all day and night but we’ll leave that for a rainy day. My enthusiasm to explore led me to beautiful New Zealand, attracted me to Thailand for 7+ years, not to mention a few other amazing countries that are worth raving about.

By the way, here’s a quick overview of countries I’ve explored :
New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Singapore, Japan, United States Of America, Mexico, and in 2018; Germany, Poland…

I was heading to the beach in southern Thailand early morning 26th December, 2004 when the (Indian Ocean earthquake / tsunami hit (00:58:53 UTC). Didn’t know what had happened exactly… my Thai friend who was to pick me up couldn’t explain what “it” was – on the phone …some huge scary thing… No beach for me and 227,000 people died that day… didn’t quite know how powerful a tsunami could be until that point… Looking back wish I could have helped more.

When I live in a country, I don’t follow the tourist route. I immerse myself in the social fabric of the community, learn the language and the customs, and get to see road less travelled.

Indeed, there’s more to talk about but for now, this will suffice.

You never go wrong by doing the right thing — Scott Kelby

Any questions? Use my contact page. On Google+ ? Please

More Weird Adventures & Bizarre Travel Scenarios

I may be the most enthusiastic guy you’ve ever met.

I’m sure I caught that enthusiasm from a deep well of blissful knowledge and meditation mixed with an extreme passion for life. Yep, I don’t mind the extremes… the opposites… say one thing and do another… the law of polarity — see Bob Proctor for more on that one – (I’m a BP alumni student & could rattle on about that stuff all day).

But hey – you could very aptly describe me as a warrior monk if you must. (We’ll talk about why a bit later…) I’m big on keeping super fit (although I hardly exercise), keep to an Ayurvedic type lifestyle and am, ahem, mildly obsessed with healthy-ness.

My enthusiasm to explore life has led me to burn through quite a few airline tickets (blame it all on AirAsia.com :), live in SE Asia, get extremely lost at the Kumbh Mela In Allahabad, India (when there’s 30 million people in one location – planning before you rock up might help!), prance around some of those other far Nth East Indian states that sit on top of the world like Sikkim, Shillong & Darjeeling, explore Myanmar from Rangoon to Bagan and beyond, as well as adventuring through Cambodia, Laos (wild – finally got there in 2014), and of course Malaysia, Nepal, Indonesia and Singapore.

Create something that you love and that other people want or need. Don’t focus on ‘trying to make money’ but on a great user experience, engaging your visitor, making your site a fun / useful place for people to visit. Give your users a reason to return time and time again and tell their friends about it and if you’ve picked a solid idea that is monetizable the money will follow.

With my camera in tow, I’ve also peeked into the ship breaking yards at Bangladesh and snowboarded the beautiful south island of New Zealand (and furtively explored the North too).

But really, compared to some world travellers, I’m just but one hairy flea on the global camels back of worldly adventures.

Having said that — (like I said above) — the places I go I never follow the usual ‘backpackers circuit’ β€” (I’m no backpacker so it wouldn’t be right, right?)

When I am on a mission / the purpose is usually a specific photographic project/body of work. The project comes first. Along those travels I realised I wasn’t too bad at mastering thee olde skill of speaking in another tongue. (I guess the need to socialise, communicate and being totally immersed in the ‘lifestyle’ helped me pick up Thai pretty quick).

My current focus is Mandarin Chinese, French and why not throw in some German for good luck eh? Gesundheit!

Nothing quite like walking over a border bridge into Nth Eastern Thailand from Malaysia late at night, having a refreshingly nice long chat with the Thai custom border guards and realising you’re home…

Another Quick Story

Just jumped off the train in Phetchaburi, Thailand. These German backpacker couple were looking for a good guesthouse so I hit up the motorbike taxi dude in Thai about what was out there guesthouse wise. The couple peered at me like I was some alien creature… “Wow you speak Thai?”

They were completely floored. But hey β€” speaking Thai is not that hard… you guys speak German, right? (And likely English, Swiss and some French for good measure). That some cracker surfer dude could throw around some Thai must have sounded so weird and crazy to them that actually learning the lingo is rather hard to fathom. But anyway. Gee…

I haven’t even hit up South America, Africa, Russia or Canada yet… (it’s in the pipeline).

But a few planned projects to dial in

  • China is on my go to list
  • Vietnam is essential
  • Myanmar (I love it so much that I’m going back)
  • Japan (just want to rock up to Osaka and see how it feels photographically wise)
  • Berlin, Germany
  • India – hey I’ll go back there any day
  • Rough list of my 2014 travel destinations (Got to be flexible)

Thoughts? Feedback?

Transforming Lives At A Girls School In Thailand

This is what I love to support…

Read this: 10 Of The Greatest Life Tools in The Whole Wild World

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More Travel And Adventure Selfies Photos Below

martin hurley australian photographer

 

martin hurley australian photographer

 

martin hurley australian photographer

 

martin hurley photography - le bateu cambodia

 

martin hurley photography - southern Thailand

 

martin hurley photography - on Remarkables in new Zealand

 

I Love To Drum