Cynde Puckett
In Motion Staff Writer
Photos of rock and roll bands, nature, gardens, heroes, Ireland and Christiana took audience members on a journey to understand how Chicago-based photographer, Brad Temkin, eventually began using photographs to document human impact on landscapes. His recent lecture in the Madorsky Theater, October 2, filled seats and captivated listeners as he shared the story of his career. An exhibition of his work, spanning a ten-year period, titled: “Second Nature,” was also available for viewing in the Southeast Museum of Photography.
Inspired by photographer Minor White, and with a love for rock and roll, he began photographing bands. The Grateful Dead and Eric Clapton are among musicians he passionately followed with his lens. His passion didn’t die. Rather, it morphed into new territory as he explored the world with his camera. Trees and nature became his new subjects of interest. In a grad school project called, “Blending and Separating,” he noticed chaos in the world and what withstood the chaos.
Temkin said, “Things were really chaotic. I was making order of things. At the moment when everything would blend together, things would separate. Which was, for me, a kind of way of affirming that I was important, that I was different than everything else, even though I blended so much.”
In time, people began to show up in his photographs again and “place” became important to him. He was interested in how the places were affected by the people, in a poetic sort of way. Humor came through in how he organized space. During this part of his career he developed Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. This changed all his thinking.
“I realized time continues and we don’t. And I need to deal with myself going through this,” said Temkin.
His series titled, “Heroes,” paid homage to that time and showed the many hospital workers and patients who shared his struggle. Photos of Temkin’s hospital stays are included in the series. He spoke about his belief in God and how important his faith was as he faced an unknown future.
On how he chose the title for the collection of photos, Temkin said, “Everyone going through it was a hero. They were brave – the nursing staff, the doctors.”
Temkin described Ireland as a country with no sense of time, with time overlapping in layers. He enjoyed photographing there, because he said he looks for, “the moments between the moments.” Ireland was rich with those instances.
In his work, “Rooftop,” Temkin used the city as backdrop and nature as foreground. He celebrated the integration and our need to integrate. Chicago’s green initiative inspired him to look at how the city had been turning roofs into gardens. With work already established in photographing gardens, such as, “Private Places,” 2005 photos of private gardens in Chicago, he did not want to do the same work. He did not want to do “Brad Temkin” again. He delved into the philosophy of biophilia, a hypothesis that humans are bonded in some way to other living things. By juxtaposing nature and man-made, he brings some validity to this hypothesis with his stunning visuals.
Temkin said, “It’s so wonderful! How we have built on nature and we’ve built these cities on nature. And yet we need nature in order to survive. We need nature to exist. We love nature. And we bring it into our lives in all different ways.”
Photography student, Esther DeLeon, attended the lecture and said, “I really liked the series at the hospital. I didn’t know if he was going to make it or not. The flowers and nature – I liked the color. And I really liked how he started with music and then moved to nature, because I’m doing the opposite, nature now music.”
Temkin’s work has also been exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. It has been featured in publications such as: Aperture; Time magazine; and European Photography. “Second Nature” will be on display in the Southeast Museum of Photography at Daytona State College until December 18. His second book, “Rooftop” is set to release later in October. For more information about upcoming lectures, films and seminars, visit the Southeast Museum of Photography website: www.smponline.org