A minor interest quickly evolved to become a passion, which only basketball can outrival. With a spare moment after a game or a training session the Lithuanian center of Meridiano Alicante grabs a camera and heads off in search of interesting places to shoot.
“For me photography isn’t only a great way to spend the time, but I can also relax and get away from basketball. Many players have hobbies, mine is probably a little unusual,” says the 218 cm basketball player with a wide smile on his face.
Andriuskevicius remembers that he got into photography after returning back to Europe after spending some time in the Unites States. A severe injury ended the player’s career on the other side of the pond and the tall youngster had to make his way back over the Atlantic.
Even before Martynas discovered photography, his sister had already made the first steps in this particular form of art. Having taken the example from his sibling, the basketball player tried to snap a couple of shots of cars. This marked the beginning of a new adventure.
“I started to take photos of cars, but I wasn’t very successful. I realised that the camera itself doesn’t guarantee great pictures. You just have to know, how to do it,” Andriuskevicius told BasketNews.lt. “This led me to reading books, searching through internet forums and gathering information from where possible. I tried to remember everything and the next time I took the camera I felt having made a couple of small steps forward.”
During his two years in the United States, Martynas’ language skills had improved greatly and that was a big advantage when he had opportunities to consult professional photographers.
Having started his photographic experience with Nikon D40 in his hands, the bigman remains loyal to the same manufacturer.
“Photoshop is an extremely hard-to-use programme, especially for those who lay their hands on it for the first time. I was no exception,” Andriuskevicius was self critical.
Watching video footage online and reading books takes a lot of time, but the young Lithuanian has all the time he needs on long travels across Spain.
“There are times when you learn something new, but can erase the photos after a
month or so as you don’t like them anymore. I’m still just playing and
experimenting with photography, I might consider it more seriously after I end
my basketball career,” the player admits.
Just as the reasonable success off of the court, Andriuskevicius’ performance on the court has been very solid as well. The player is averaging 8,6 points and 4,8 rebounds in arguably the strongest European leagues – the Spanish ACB. This season has probably been the most solid that Martynas has had in his short career.
With an opportunity to travel across Spain, the player tries to capture pictures other Spanish cities.
The Lithuanian doesn’t think much of his accomplishments in photography. And even though he has created a photo studio at his home in Alicante, he isn’t willing to brag about it.
“It’s really not much of a studio… I’ve spread a couple of blankets in the balcony and have three deflagrators,” Andriuskevicius revealed.
His friends, his fiancé and Andriuskevicius himself are the models of the player’s photo shoots.
The basketball player has already received invitations to take pictures by his friends, but laughs and says he would never work as a wedding photographer.
“I wouldn’t like it,” he admits. “But I would probably agree to shoot basketball.”
If one day Andriuskevicius decided to become a professional, he wouldn’t be the tallest photographer in the world. Even standing at 218 cm tall, the player originally from Kaunas, has seen a taller person taking pictures during his time in the Unites States.
“There was a guy snapping photos during Chicago Bulls games, who was a couple centimeters taller than me!” said Andriuskevicius. “It’s a pity that I didn’t start to take interest in photography before I left the United States. It would have been nice to have a chat with him and hear his story.”
Whatever the American photographer’s story was, Andriuskevicius’ occupation is just as interesting. Even more so as the basketball player doesn’t rule out a possibility of taking up photography even more seriously later on.
“Who knows, maybe
this will keep me busy after my basketball career. You don’t need much health
here,” laughed one of the world’s tallest photographers.
Some more photos by Martynas Andriuskevicius:
