Marty Tullemens passed away in December 2020  and this is a celebration of his life as a professional surf photographer. Marty’s sister Mary has given her permission to use these images to show the world how many of his images were used to showcase surfing throughout the time Marty pursued his passion.

I will attempt to give you a small insight into who Marty was, I am not a writer as you will soon discover but I feel I have to give it a go, as that’s what Marty would do. He was sometimes crazy sometimes otherworldly but above all a character that bought out the laughter in everyone. You could sit for hours and listen to Marty’s stories and think wow is he serious? Well, he was a master of surfing photography, a friend and co-conspirator to some of the top pro surfers of the era. Marty lived for his photography and it showed in the list of his works that made the cover of so many publications. If the surf was pumping competition or not you would no doubt see Marty either swimming around or lying on his adapted paddleboard that housed his camera on the front ( Now displayed in Surf World Gold Coast Museum) I can’t remember which comp is was but I think it was the stubbies when he was running around taking photos and he would put a sticker on your forehead so he knew he had the shot.

Marty loved his photography even though it was never a huge money earner he got by on what he had. I remember playing a game of chess with Marty and he just came out with the fact that I was sitting where Michael Peterson had sat many times as his chess partner? Marty was loved by so many and probably misunderstood by just as many, but then we were surfers who had been judged and shunned by society for so long we just didn’t care anymore, we were just surfers until society caught the bug and it all became a mainstream sport, but by this time Marty was getting older and the digital age had surfaced to make it possible for the amateur to get 20 shots per second and pick out one that was the money shot. To Marty and a lot of the surf photographers, it made it difficult to make a living from just surf photography alone and Marty ended up living in a caravan at Kirra.

In other words, Marty was a legend and one hell of a nice guy most of the time, and other times he was an excentric crazy person that got up to some outrageous antics but that only endeared him more to the surfing fraternity who has always embraced the individual!

RIP Marty and we will see you on the other side!