The COMP Magazine Brad Temkin - Traversing Rooftops

Brad Temkin has been making photographs of green environments in urban areas for the better part of twenty years. These images offer the viewer insight into private places, bird’s-eye views and a look at the relationship between nature and urban habitats as our cities continue to modernize. Recently, The COMP Magazine caught up with Temkin during his frenetic schedule to discuss his recent book Brad Temkin: Rooftop, his early influences, what he values most in making pictures, and his role as an educator.

Brad Temkin, 111 South Wacker (from above, looking West) – Chicago, IL July 2013

Can we start with some background? Perhaps, you can share with us any early events that assisted in directing your current photographic projects?

I started photographing Rock n’ Roll as a teenager and later went to see a Minor White exhibition. My whole world was turned upside down and I decided I wanted to use the camera as a vehicle for personal expression. Photographs were no longer documents or remembrances of events. They became a moment in time that resonated a more personal journey for me. It was a way to understand my life and who I was.

Brad Temkin, UBS Building (looking South) – Zurich, Switzerland March 2015

You just released the rather ambitious and topical photobook, “Brad Temkin: Rooftop” through Radius Books. This in-depth effort is multifaceted. On one level, I see you presenting a bird’s-eye view of the ‘greening’ movement underway in urban centers to combat our carbon imprint. Simultaneously, I see an attention to formal issues that speak to photographic aesthetics aligned with modernist architecture practices. Can you provide an introduction to your intent with this work?

What is left behind defines who we are. Our environment reflects this, and I am interested in our relationship to our environment. I am an optimist and my intent is to bring attention to this in a positive way.

Brad Temkin, The Rouge (looking Southwest) – Dearborn, MI August 2011

Previously, you published “Private Places: Photographs of Chicago Gardens” (2005) with the Center for American Places. I see this work as a precursor to your current investigations. What piqued your interest to examine the greening of urban areas? What personal connection do you hold with the topic?

I was printing for an exhibition of my Private Places series for the city of Chicago, and heard a piece on NPR about Chicago’s green initiative. Mayor Daley was requiring city buildings and flat roofed to have green roofs for heat island effect, storm water management and reducing our carbon footprint. This caught my interest, and I thought it would be interesting to photograph. I reached out to the city and some people I knew to help with access. I then began to research other areas, and found that this movement had been very active in Europe and just in it’s early stages in the US. As with most bodies of work I do, the pictures define my intent.

Brad Temkin, 10 West Jackson (looking West) – Chicago, IL November 2011

What do you value most in making pictures?

Good question! The answer is the process itself. It allows me the ability to become more aware and to address questions I have about people. I choose to look at the beauty in things and I see the world as a good place. It’s a real affirmation of living.

Brad Temkin, City Hall (looking Southwest) – Chicago, IL May 2010

You are also an educator. I believe we initially met in the Department of Photography at Columbia College Chicago in the mid 1990s? Are there specific items or experiences that you still present to your students?

Yes. I always talk about the power of intent in making picture and ask students to pay attention to what they were thinking when they made the picture and the actual “life” of the picture. I think that our pictures are ahead of us, and if we pay attention to our intent, it allows us to make better choices in the future. When you make better choices, or choices with more awareness, I believe you have a happier life. If you are happier, you are more positive, thus the world is a better place.

Brad Temkin, Wasserwerk Moos (looking North) – Zurich, Switzerland May 2014

What’s currently on the radar? Are there any specific projects or exhibitions you are working upon at the moment?

I have a few ideas, and am working them through. I also do many projects simultaneously. But most of my projects start by an interest in learning something and then take their own form into a more formal project per se. I also seem to work on things as long term, meaning 2 to 5 years at a time, or until I feel it is done.