He was slightly built at 5 feet 2 inches (1.57 m) tall and 125 pounds (57 kg), and though he would climb trees and church towers to get a different angle for his photographs,[2] his nickname "Spider" dates back to his school days at Hueytown High, where a reporter described him as moving "like a spider" during one of his touchdown runs on the football field.

[6] Hosea Williams and John Lewis were leading the planned 54-mile (87 km) march to the Alabama State Capitol in protest at unfair treatment of African Americans and discriminatory voting rights practices.

Speaking about the effect of photography on the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Spider, we could have marched, we could have protested forever, but if it weren't for guys like you, it would have been for nothing.

[8][9] After the Selma to Montgomery marches, Martin covered the trial of the murderer of Viola Liuzzo and George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign, reportedly telling the candidate "I won't vote for you, but I'll take your money.

[11] The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin acquired Martin's archive of negatives, correspondence, memos, clippings, and other material in 2015 for $250,000.