This is Burning Sand

The work of Sechelt photographer Martin Nichols.

So here I am, physically located on Canada’s Sunshine Coast on the Strait of Georgia, emotionally locked into the incredible entity that is my family, spiritually beholden to the unstoppable forces of the West Coast and rock music, and artistically drawn to the mystical power of photography. I’m Martin Nichols. I grew up in London, a city like no other, a place so hardwired into my psyche that, despite my having been away since 1982, I feel its pull on a visceral level pretty much every day. But it’s all good: I’m home here, I'm home there...it's all we really want, right?

Why Burning Sand? As it happens, there was a big fire on the beach here that caught a lot of the driftwood alight not long before we moved in. Truth is, the name actually comes from a line in an Iggy Pop song, but the fire thing fits. This is early days for my studio and this website, but I can't recall having been as energized about anything since I first saw Dr Strangelove. I'll be adding content as often as I can, with a little help from my friends, of course: namely the models, assistants, the many people around me who provide inspiration though totally unaware of it, and the swirling energy of the coast itself.

Martin Nichols
Burning Sand Studio
Sechelt, BC Canada

Tel. 604.740.1453


The Burning Sand Blog

Limited Edition Prints by Martin Nichols
from the Busacca Gallery