PICAYUNE PEOPLE: Photographer-plus Martelle Luedecke
Martelle Luedecke and camera, something she's rarely without. Staff photo by Nathan Bush
Photographer, wildlife manager, gardening expert, and trained chef Martelle Luedecke of Burnet doesn’t take many days off, but when she does, she’s still busy.
“Once a month, there’s a day on my calendar that says, ‘You better get some sleep,’ and it’s all red,” she laughed. “I still haven’t stuck to it because something always comes up.”
The Austin native-turned-Burnet County staple has devoted her life to capturing the faces and places of the Highland Lakes, from countless charity galas to high school football games under the Friday night lights.
“God gave me a gift and told me to share,” said Luedecke (pronounced lou-deck). “That’s the bottom line. And then he said, ‘P.S.: Here’s a place with ample opportunity.’”
Luedecke sets herself apart from other local photographers because she offers free services for certain events.
“Any fundraiser, school event, or military event is always free to download,” Luedecke said. “And I love every minute of it.”
Her passion for photography started in childhood.
“Daddy handed me my first camera when I was still playing with my Easy-Bake Oven,” Luedecke said with a laugh. “I’ve really been shooting since I could walk.”
Since the beginning, her favorite subjects have been “anything and everything,” she said. Film and processing were expensive, so she paid for her hobby by raking leaves.
“Back then, you charged by the bag,” she said. “I only got $1 or $2 a bag, but it was a big help.”
After graduating from high school, Luedecke put the camera down to pursue a career as a professional chef. She received a scholarship to study at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Austin but instead decided to work as an intern under Jeff Blank at Hudson’s on the Bend, a restaurant on the Colorado River in Travis County.
The long hours demanded in the food service industry and other life struggles drew her further away from photography.
“I was drinking a lot,” said Luedecke, who is coming up on 17 years sober. “Not many people thought I’d make it to 30 years old. I was a wild child.”
She conquered her drinking problem in 2007 after spending six months in a women’s correctional facility. When asked about including her struggle for sobriety in this article, Luedecke said: “I have no trouble with people knowing. “
“I hope to be an inspiration for others,” she said. “Anyone can come up and pull me aside and talk to me about it if they want.”
Luedecke jumped back into photography once she was sober. Several years later, she moved to Burnet County with her three kids: Lucian, now 25; Briezie, now 24; and J.P., now 22.
“My aunt converted a corner of her barndominium (in Burnet) into an apartment for me and my kids,” she said. “It was the first time in five years that I had my own bed.”
Soon after, Luedecke Photography was born. She credits her children for the business’ success.
“My children were the foundation of Luedecke Photography,” she said. “Each had their own specialty in shooting, which brought great diversity to Luedecke Photography. As a team, we were unstoppable.”
The business continues to grow along with Luedecke’s steadfast commitment to going the extra mile (literally) to get the shot. She once traveled over eight hours on a 480-mile roundtrip journey to Lufkin for a regional girls’ basketball tournament.
Her reason for traveling is simple.
“In cross-country, for example, kids start (practice) when you can still see the stars,” she said. “They put in the work. I didn’t have to do all the work that they did, so, of course, I’m going to be there.”
An added bonus is watching the athletes grow up through her camera lens.
“It’s just gotten to that point in the last couple of years because I’ve been here long enough,” she said. “It’s crazy!”
When she’s not chasing down subjects for another photo, you can find Luedecke tending to her garden alongside her dog, Mötley. She and her father, Bill Luedecke, write a mostly weekly gardening column that can be found at DailyTrib.com under The Picayune.
“I’m trying new things this spring, making mistakes, and learning from them so that I can tell others what did or didn’t work for me,” said Luedecke, referring to her current gardening efforts. “I enjoy helping people. I enjoy sharing a passion with others.”
Luedecke’s selflessness and her contributions to the Burnet community have not gone unnoticed. The photographer has received six straight Locals Love Us awards voted on by The Picayune Magazine readers and KBEY 103.9 Radio Picayune listeners.
“People are always so thankful and grateful,” she said.
That admiration is a two-way street.
“Everything that I hold dear to my heart, like patriotism, putting God first, caring about family and people, and looking out for one another, the people of Burnet do, too,” she said. “The whole county is like that, honestly. The people are wonderful.”
Luedecke plans to continue filling her calendar with even more events to shoot.
“God has a lot to do with it,” she said. “Come to think of it, God has everything to do with it.”