In the summer of 2021 I will complete the graduate certificate in GIS at the University of Maryland and embark on a new career. For over twenty years I have run my own business, Michael Temchine Photography, working as a photojournalist. I graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in Photojournalism in 1998. From that day to this I have worked to visually communicate ideas both - abstract and concrete - in a way understood by all. To say that my work environment has been one where agility is the number one requirement would be an understatement.
Man Plans, and God Laughs.
Number two and three on the list of requirements might just be: flexibility and adaptability.
Those three traits refer not just to the assignments,
where all manner of complications might arise, but working productively with the team that makes up each assignment. I may have been the lone photographer but I never worked alone.
At a minimum I worked with my subject where the need to establish trust quickly was paramount. Being a succesful photographer requires an ability to listen and let others be themselves.
Being controlling is not collaboration and all of my work has been work of collaboration.
What motivated me to become a photojournalist was the romantic notion that an image has
power to move the world. The truth is, it does. I chose GIS to be my new career because I believe the visualization of data has that same impact on society. To visualize abstract numbers is to
empower everybody with knowledge.
When not working I spend my time with my family: reading, hiking, biking, and cooking.
