In alliance with the photojournalism agency darkroom, Peninsula 360 Press and Global Exchange collaborated so that Omar Martínez could photograph the 2022 Brazilian elections.
Omar Martínez, who is currently part of the Mexican photojournalism agency Cuartoscuro, led by one of the most relevant lenses of modern Mexico, Pedro Valtierra, has spoken with the Bay Area Portraits section of Peninsula 360 Press about his most recent coverage, where Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva defeated the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, with more than 50 percent of the votes in the second round of the elections in that country.
One of the most representative photographs generated during this coverage portrays a victorious Lula, smiling and with his fist raised, facing the bright green flag, knowing that he had won the election. Omar Martínez and his camera ready were there.
In an interview, Martinez recalled that one of the objectives in the planning to obtain "the image" was to portray the then potential winner.
To achieve this, Omar climbed onto trucks packed with people where, through his inseparable camera, he was able to record Lula's gestures of gratitude to his voters, framed by the Brazilian flag.
He also walked through the streets full of voters, where he saw not only a scene of celebration, but also of love, as people, in addition to laughing, kissed each other in joy after their candidate's victory.
However, the photograph that was immediately published in both national and international media was the one in which he climbed to the top of a lamppost to closely portray the victory of the virtual president of Brazil, Lula da Silva.
It is worth noting that Omar Martínez has a prolific photojournalistic career in northern Mexico, which began with the permanent presence of his work in the collection of the Athenaeum Museum, in the city of La Jolla, California.
Martínez is a correspondent for the Cuaroscuro Agency in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, where he has covered one of the most complex phenomena today: the migration crisis in Latin America, with the so-called "Migrant Caravan" of 2018.
This migration event received international attention, as more than six thousand migrants from Central America arrived in Tijuana in November 2018 with the intention of requesting asylum in the United States. This coverage earned Martínez the opportunity to present his work at the Nubuke Foundation in Ghana, Africa, in 2019.
In addition, Omar's career includes awards such as the Young Photographer Award at the 5th National Photojournalism Biennial 2001-2002.
In 2020, she won first place in the Baja California journalism contest organized by The San Diego Union Tribune and the Center for Mexico-United States Studies.
For more details about Omar Martinez and his work as a photojournalist and his coverage of the Brazilian elections, visit the interview on Omar Martinez's Instagram account. Peninsula 360 Press.
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