Spider Martin

The civil rights photography of Spider Martin, then with the Birmingham News, is considered by journalists and media critics to be among the finest of that troubled period. His photography causes the viewer to almost believe he is there, at the scene, not looking at photos of a scene.

Spider Martin

Mot much over 5 feet tall, Martin could get himself close to the action, wriggling through small breaks in crowds to get the best close-ups. Many of his photos create contrasts between vertical and horozontal movement and imply action, sometimes by composing symetrical photos and at other times asymetrical ones.

I knew of Martin as when I was a wire editor in Texas, handling AP photos who put many of his photos on the national wire. But I never met him until this March of this year, when he volunteered to shoot photos of Diane McWhorter, this year's Clarence Cason Nonfiction Writing Award
winner.

I invited Spider over to my home on Caplewood Drive the next day. We talked about football (He was a star high school football player despite his tiny stature.), photography and, of course, Spider's news photography.

In recent years, he has been a portrait and special events photographer, operating his own studio. Sadly, a few weeks after I met him he took his
life. But in between our meeting and his death, he did an act of kindness that spoke of his generosity.

A high school senior with cerebral palsy who lived near Spider wanted to meet the Alabama football team. Spider called me, and I enlisted others to set up a special meeting between the young man, Jeffery Boatwright, and Brody Croyle and other football players.

On another occasion, Spider took one of my students, Javacia Harris, under wing and together they went to an all-white church Easter 2001.

-- Ed Mullins

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