Tim Carpenter
About
Tim Carpenter is a photographer, writer, and educator who works in Brooklyn and central Illinois. He is the author of several photobooks, among them Little; A month of Sundays; Christmas Day, Bucks Pond Road; Local objects; township; Bement grain; Still feel gone; The king of the birds; and A house and a tree. Tim received an MFA in Photography from the Hartford Art School in 2012. He is a faculty member of the Penumbra Foundation Long Term Photobook Program and serves as a mentor in the Image Threads Mentorship Program. Tim’s book-length essay To photograph is to learn how to die was published by The Ice Plant in Fall 2022.
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LACP Interviews Tim Carpenter
LACP asks Tim Carpenter ten questions about their background, career in and beliefs about photography.
Los Angeles Center of Photography: What kind of photographer are you?
Tim Carpenter: The kind who has to use a camera to make some sort of sense of the world.
LACP: How long have you been photographing?
TC: Since I was a kid. My dad is a lifelong photographer, and he gave me point-and-shoot cameras and about as much film as I wanted.
LACP: Where did you get your training?
TC: I didn’t have much formal ‘training’ until I got an MFA. Before that, I mostly took classes here and there, to learn how to develop and print black-and-white film, for example.
LACP: When did you know you wanted to devote your life to photography?
TC: When I decided to drop out of full-time employment at age 42 and get an MFA.
LACP: Did you ever come close to giving up?
TC: Not once.
LACP: Have you sacrificed anything by being a photographer?
TC: Sure. I would be much more financially stable if I’d stayed in a regular, full-time job. And also much less fulfilled.
LACP: What have you gained by being a photographer?
TC: Everything I could have ever imagined, and more. I’m not kidding.
LACP: What classes do you teach at LACP?
TC: I taught a webinar called “From Image to Word: Writing Authentically About Your Work” for LACP. This will be my first in-person class.
LACP: What do you love most about teaching?
TC: Two things: 1) When a student or advisee says that they have never thought about their own work so deeply or clearly; and 2) The jolt of inspiration I get to be a better photographer.
LACP: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about making a career in photography?
TC: You’re going to have to be creative and flexible and have a DIY spirit. Nobody is going to hand a career to you.