RIP Marty Tullemans – legendary surf photographer, larger-than-life character

News is everywhere today in surf circles that we’ve lost Marty after a battle with dementia over the past couple of years. Social media is full of tributes and no wonder, he was a major talent and a special human being.

A smart and intelligent man, at times Marty could almost seem too bright to fit neatly into this world. Loose in the very best way, any conversation with Marty could fly off into the most intriguing tangents. And off he’d lead you, like you and he were co-conspirators - always with his knowing smile, like “isn’t this fun!”. Marty made friends easily, and he had them all over.

A great surfer himself, Marty was a particularly innovative surf photographer - land and water – and under the handle MTVz was a star contributor to every surf magazine in Australia and in the US across four decades or more from the ’70s on. 

He was also generous to a fault in passing on his hard-earned knowledge to younger photographers with no strings attached. Check out the heartfelt social media tributes from Simon “Swilly” Williams, Peter “Joli” Wilson, Luke Sorenson, Shane Peel and Andrew Shield just for starters.

While part of the DNA of Gold Coast surfing, Marty had lived in Noosa for many years, shot Hawaii extensively, and was an early Indo explorer. He also took to longboarding from when it first came back in the early ’80s - rode them himself, covered all the comps and the characters, and must say we were honoured to have him contribute many a wonderful shot to PLB.

He was a man with many admirers, who loved a laugh and lived life to the fullest. Rest In Peace Martin Tullemans you diamond.

 - JB