TJ TAMBELLINI
With our daily lives set at fast-forward, the world around us can seem like one big blur. I gotta get away from this day-to-day, running around. Everybody knows this is nowhere, croons Neil Young, the unexpected inspiration behind the collection of sequestered images which make up the Tumblr THIS IS NOW HERE; where colour, texture and shape collide, begging the viewer to reconsider a potentially average scene to find the beauty within that was there all along. “THIS IS NOW HERE is about creating a new home for the overlooked details and spontaneous moments that I see daily. It just happens to be a digital home, a new resting place, giving the stills a new life,” explains the site's creator, TJ Tambellini. “This 'moment' now permanently lives 'here.' The underlying meaning speaks to the digital nature of curation, photography, and the internet. I could ramble on about that, but I wouldn’t be the first.”
Growing up in a small town in Southeast Florida, then spending almost a decade in Chicago, Tambellini moved to Los Angeles about a year ago after being fed up with the harsh Mid-West winters. “I'm an open person, always on the move. I thrive on constant creative output,” says Tambellini. “My work speaks to how I think I present myself: optimistic, playful, focused. The majority of my photography has been a product of my environment and being fairly new to Los Angeles... I was fortunate enough as a kid to road trip around the US quite a bit, always with a disposable [camera] in tow. I can remember thumbing through stacks of prints, reliving the trips. I also had a peak in high-school with access to a darkroom and materials, but it wasn’t until my move out West that I rekindled my love for it. In Chicago I was so focused on music and when I came out here I sort of pivoted creatively. Not that I don’t still play, I just put more of my efforts into shooting these days. It is also hard to stay indoors, hunkered over gear, when it is so nice out...all the time.”
The self-taught photographer, and musician to boot, is always on the prowl for new material, taking to the streets of LA with a camera in tow, whether it be his Contax T2, or his iPhone. “Many of the photos on my Tumblr are actually shot with an iPhone,” says Tambellini. “It's always in my pocket, ya know.” Drawing inspiration from Los Angeles' hyper-real environment, Tambellini's work is vibrant, sculptural, focused and observant. “My surroundings, Los Angeles, California in general [fuel me creatively]. For me, and I think others have had similar introductions, Los Angeles can be a bit jarring at first. It’s overwhelming, and not set up like the traditional urban experience, especially to those coming from Chicago or New York. The city is explosive with colour, and there is no coordination to it in the least bit. It took me a bit to get it, but I now appreciate the overlooked details. Keeping up with modern still life and fashion photography certainly helps as well.”
As with many multi-faceted artists, Tambellini manages to draw creative energies between his projects whilst still maintaining a separate voice for each. “Before moving to California I played in the Chicago based band, VERMA. The music is heavily influenced by repetition, texture, and the 70’s art-rock/Krautrock movement in Germany. I also [have my own] solo work, basically the same influences, just only using analog synthesizers,” says Tambellini. “While there is not a direct connection to the bleak sounds of VERMA and my photographic work, I do find similarities in the concept of subtle change. Krautrock is all about repetitive drive, the motorik rhythm, and finding a meditative stream in the constant. But, deep in the material is subtle change. There typically are elements buried in it all that I listen for, a slight shift happening. Details oscillating out from the rest, bringing in melody. That is how I approach photography. I try to find the understated moments in the repetitive, overly-familiar landscape.
Motived by framing, clean, geometric shapes and complimenting colour palettes, Tambellini finds deeper meaning in these conventional, overly familiar details of the man-made. Passionate as this novice may be, Tambellini has no immediate plans on turning his creative outputs into the full-time professional realm. “Any creative output for me, whether it is music or photography, has to be personal work,” says Tambellini. “Doing this full-time sounds great and all, but I know myself all too well. As soon as it becomes a job my passion changes.”
Images courtesy of TJ Tambellini
Published in PITCH Zine Issue# 28, June 2014