Ray Martin: ‘You don’t just get older, you get better’

THROUGHOUT his 50-year career in journalism, the pen was Ray Martin’s tool of choice. But these days, a new passion has reignited his curiosity about the world.

Ray Martin: “People keep telling me that being a grandad is even better than having your own children. That’s not true.” (Pic: Nigel Lough for Stellar)

RAY Martin never used to leave home without a notebook. Now it’s his camera he always packs first. Whether he’s heading to a refugee camp in Bangladesh, out on a speaking tour with his good mate Sir David Attenborough, boarding a plane or simply out for dinner with his family, Martin never misses an opportunity to photograph the events that unfold in his life. His daughter Jenna even jokes that her dad’s camera is fused to his arm like an extra limb.

Considering he’s enjoyed such an illustrious media career, one might think Martin’s only regret would be the interview he failed to snare or the question he forgot to ask. But no. What sticks in his craw when he looks back on 50 years in journalism is the photographs he failed to take.

Martin packs a camera first nowadays. (Pic: Nigel Lough for Stellar)

He all but winces when he thinks of all the images that could have been his: presidents, prime ministers, princes and some of the most high-profile celebrities of the last half century — among them Kevin Costner, Michael Crawford and Audrey Hepburn. “I never asked for a photo,” Martin tells Stellar, sounding rueful. “And looking back now, I know they would have said, ‘Of course.’ But I was there as a journalist, not a photographer. So I always felt like a goose asking for a photograph.”

Not anymore. Martin says what was once a hobby has become an obsession. He has photographed the northern lights in the Arctic Circle, snapped a storm in Ireland and convinced Attenborough to have his picture taken in front of an exit sign in an alleyway after a long night performing onstage. “He was tired, we’d had a couple of red wines, but he saw the arrow from the exit and smiled,” recalls Martin. “He knew what I wanted.”

“I always felt like a goose asking for a photograph.” (Pic: Nigel Lough for Stellar)

It’s his respect for what he believes is an under-valued medium that has prompted Martin to host a conference celebrating some of Australia’s own photography pioneers. “We’re known for having the best cartoonists in the world, our actors fight well above their weight… yet Gary Heery leads the world with his portraits of everyone from Madonna to the Rolling Stones [and] he does so without recognition.”

Martin says part of the reason the craft is not more widely acknowledged “is because everyone thinks they’re a photographer — iPhones have made it possible for most people to take pictures that look pretty good. If you take a picture of your child standing on his head and it’s warm and cute, then that’s a great shot. You can’t do that in many fields of endeavour because you’re just not that good enough.”

Martin as host of Midday in 1989.

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AFTER YEARS OF working for the ABC and Nine Network as a foreign correspondent and reporter on current affairs programs, including 60 Minutes and Four Corners, the five-time Gold Logie winner says his new hobby has left him feeling liberated. “When I was reporting, if I carried a camera it would create suspicion. The camera could be problematic and a distraction, and I would have to cover it in colourful gaffer tape so I didn’t leave it anywhere.”

These days, the only problem he faces is family members not as keen to be his subjects as they once were. He used to take plenty of pictures of his wife, Dianne, and their children, Jenna, 32, and Luke, 27, until they tired of it. Now it’s only his eight-and-a-half-month-old grandson, Arlo, who can’t object.

“People keep telling me that being a grandad is even better than having your own children,” Martin says. “That’s not true. I have to give Arlo back. I want to keep him — he’s so beautiful and he thinks I’m really funny. He obviously is discerning with impeccable taste. I love him beyond words.”

At 73 years of age, Martin has no problem keeping busy and enjoys pursuits such as golf. He reads up to three newspapers a day — even more on the weekends. But he promises he has no intention of stopping work altogether. “I’m not at the end of my career,” he says. “David Attenborough is 92 next month and he’s my role model. I’ll keep working as long as I can do things right.”

Ray Martin features in Stellar magazine.

Martin’s writing today is better and sharper than ever, he says, and to that end he’s working on a book about Fred Hollows, though again, he regrets not taking pictures of his old friend. “You don’t just get older, you get better,” he says. “When you’re a sportsman you have to give way to age but [journalism] is an area where when I read a sentence that sparkles I know that my judgement is sound — because I’ve read a lot of sentences.”

Despite boasting a passport full of stamps — and, incidentally, his face recently featured on one of the postal variety — Martin still has plenty of places he wants to visit. First up is a trip with Dianne in November to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. She’s not much of a traveller — “She’s figured her bedroom is more five-star than anything she can have in a hotel,” he laughs — but he’s thinking of dragging her to one special destination. “We’d just been married when I was sent to New York for the ABC in 1969,” Martin reveals. “So they weren’t only creatively formative years but the formative years of our relationship. If I took her anywhere for romance and old times’ sake, it would be New York.” Once there, they might even try for a selfie.

The Aperture Photography Conference runs from April 28 to 29; tickets are available at apertureaustralia.com.au.

Originally published as Ray Martin: ‘You don’t just get older, you get better’