Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Justin Tompkins. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Justin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
Since 2017, I’ve been taking portraits of my grandmother. What started as a whim cheerfully became a project the following year when she joked about doing another photoshoot. I couldn’t decline her offer and 8 years later this project has become my longest and the one I hold most dear.
Years is a photography series with my grandmother (Mimi), Phyllis Skinner. I began the series with the first iteration being 89 Years. Now, each year I have with her from then on, I’m replicating the same photographs by memory. The photographs are taken on her birthday in February. I’ve been capturing the series on film. After discussing the project with my Mimi, I’ve assigned her a few projects of her own to be included in this series. Those being poetry, personal stories and knowledge the rest of my family may not know of.
Since the start there have been some changes. She’s moved from her home into an assisted living facility. The scenes I’d recreate have now had to morph into her new surroundings. There’s a different feeling and atmosphere to the newer photos – but this is life and simply the natural process to a series of this nature.
Justin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Concrete titles have alluded me. The kind that gets cast and proudly displayed on a wall or a desk. As far back as I can remember I’ve been deeply connected to combustion engines, adrenaline and curiosity. It just happens that cars and motorcycles usually fit the bill for all three. I grew up glued to sounds of race cars roaring by lap after lap and the invigorating noises of 2-stroke dirt bikes jumping triples on Supercross tracks. I tended to waver about along these two lanes in the capacity of a fan or wannabe. My 4th grade Christmas left a deep mark when I saw a 2004 Kawasaki KLX 110 sitting in front of the Christmas tree. This was a pivotal moment for self expression and a primal urge to evolve. An emerging feeling that I might reach the podium one day – one form or another.
As above, so below. With my interests being gingerly supported at a young age, I also began to see the world as an eagle soaring in the skies. I was seemingly living in the present but I believe to have been predominately imagining my future from a birds-eye view. This created many challenges in schooling and when I attended college. There were just too many possibilities and ways to connect with the urges to explore earth and do so with some sort of connection to my seasoned interests.
Life set in and I wound up studying advertising at the University of Florida after adoring Red Bull’s branding. Turns out I heavily disliked the way I was being taught in the common place that are university auditorium settings. The lack of a hands-on teaching approach led me to dismiss the study and seek a different track. I had an introductory writing class in the spring of 2015 which stood out rather heavily to me. The format was journalistic in nature and I quickly found I had never been challenged in that way before. I realized that my whole academic life I never put much thought into what I wrote. To me prior to this class, writing was a means to an end. The goal of writing was to convince a teacher I knew enough about a subject to pass me with high regards – nothing more. My outlook changed.
In 2015, I purchased my first camera inspired by moving and still images I saw online. After becoming enamored by the world of W Eugene Smith, I began to study photojournalism. I approached the subject diligently and discovered a cacophony of outlooks and visions. But I needed more. I wanted to editorialize. I explored photography further, venturing into different camps of styles, disciplines and appreciations.
Soon after began my curiosity into brand identity, recognition, championing, and consumerism. I picked up the practice of design, focusing on such directions as product and branding. Advertising became a rational next step and I became an art director. Perhaps it was simply a better time to reproach advertising but I walked into a school of thinking with a new openness. Learning of new and old, big and small, right and wrong wasn’t far from what I gained with journalism. A field of matryoshka dolls, all lining up in an array of regiment and uniform.
An ever-woven thread began to pinch me little by little. Storytelling is rooted in my initial curiosities. Whether it be about why a discipline caught my attention or how I can tell a story via a discipline. The more I pick up the more life seems to overlap. Perhaps this is why I found myself in search for something that doesn’t exist yet. A something that isn’t easily overlapped.
I was stumped. I had worked a few years in the advertising industry as a junior art director and then just a plain jane art director in Chicago, New York City, and then remotely in Florida. My time was fulfilling and I enjoyed quite a few projects I worked on. Something was missing though. I found myself in a position more akin to a busser rather than the patron or the chef. I could still appreciate what I was doing but I was too detached from the real action. I wanted to either create or taste the magic of metaphorical dining – or better yet – find a way to have both. I decided to slow down and look for a different role that was local rather than remote and would possibly grant me more flexibility to discover this elusive path I’d begin to go down.
Currently, I’m working full time as a graphic designer and jack of all trades creative for a national food distribution company. This was a surprising shift for me as just a few years earlier I told myself to never become a graphic designer. Life is ironic it turns out. The beauty of this change was how it reminded me of a few of my youthful years when I was enamored by Anthony Bourdain. Turns out I looked up to him as a teenager not realizing why in the moment. This recent reminder re-sparked the flame of curiosity I had when I was a 4th-grader kickstarting my little motorcycle for the first time. The sound of the engine turning over gave me an energy fueled by curiosity.
This energy is part of the flame that’s been recently re-ignited. My new endeavor is to discover ways to make this flame burn brighter and tell the stories of my progress along the way. This leads me to Roun – my storytelling series of sorts that I’m starting to capture and express this journey I’m on. This endeavor is definitely a work-in-progress but it’s something that keeps me awake. It’s relentlessly taunting me and I can’t simply ignore the idea and it’s golem-esque existence.
For Roun, I’ll be incorporating my different skills and experiences to document and express what it means to re-discover my child-like curiosities. This primarily means using photography, writing and my run-and-gun style filmmaking to do so while attached to the world of adventure riding. For this interview, the images I’ve included are reflective of this new venture. The images are examples of what caught my attention during adventure motorcycle (ADV) rides. In addition, I’ve included the hero portrait of my series Years. This photo stands as my favorite personal photo and the one that gives life to the series.
Although my professional craft is graphic design and advertising, my friends and peers know me for my photography. To describe my most common work, I focus on documentary and landscapes with serial threads and pastoral settings. Yeah, it’s a mouthful of artistic bullshit but it does seem to represent my work succinctly. Two of my key focuses are time and nature. Time as an action and subject of dimensionality. As for nature, it’s the human-bound relationship and the natural embodiment of reliance. Again, more bullshit but it does accurate represent the majority of my photographic efforts.
At the end of the day, I hope to create opportunities through mediums that give people a sort of freedom for their imagination and curiosity to run rampant within.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Two distinct resources come to mind. Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown and more recently, Michael Easter’s book, The Comfort Crisis. I mention these because they come to mind first which to me, must mean they’re relevant to qualify to be significantly impactful. So, why these two selections?
Anthony Bourdain has been of great significance to me. Although I never met the man, I managed to form some sort of cool uncle like admiration to him. The way his mind functioned and the struggles he faced are relatable. His ability to interact so sincerely with a swath of people and to find connection amongst new cultures and people was mesmerizing. By watching him I realized the concept of breaking bread is important for coexistence and better yet, the ability to thrive. Food, music and storytelling are the 3 defining practices that all cultures can connect with regardless of the language barrier or even animosity that may exist.
This understanding led me to want to find ways to travel and connect over food, music and storytelling. In my case, I’m not a chef nor a musician but I can tell stories. Perhaps by doing my part I’ll be able to healthily contribute to the concept of breaking bread. This is part of the ambition I have for Roun, the project I mentioned earlier.
As for Michael Easter, he’s a newer figure for me. A chef friend of mine actually recommended reading The Comfort Crisis during my rucks. For awareness, rucking is the act of walking with weight on your back. Commonly accomplished by a weighted vest or rucksack (backpack), It’s a lower impact exercise based on military training workouts. The combination of listening to Mr. Easter’s narration while struggling to walk miles with a plate on my back definitely has been a positive resource for perseverance.
Perhaps it’s the combination that literally wears me down but it seems to be assisting me to face difficulties and choose to do the hard things. I believe that to accomplish abnormal success in this new era of unethical algorithms, short attention spans, artificial intelligence and extreme politics, I truly have to seek the difficult paths. Going for a hike in a well-traversed park often offers multiple trails to choose from. While the common trails are heavily worn, can often be interjected with signage, dog waste stations, and overpopulation – the off the beaten paths are usually overgrown, less appetizing at first, and even daunting.
From my experience, I’ve never been disappointed taking the difficult trails and seeking those off-the-beaten paths. Regardless of the challenge and occasional treachery, they seem to provide opportunities that seem special and purpose built for the exact moment shared with me – the challenger. The Comfort Crisis is a book that makes me think of this relationship with taking on hard tasks and challenging myself. I believe both of these resources and my take on them can be reflected across many disciplines.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I’ve alluded to this but to summarize I want to discover ways to further my curiosity and encourage happiness in my life. I have a deep love for motorcycles so utilizing their transportation and invigorating qualities is a necessity to my creative journey. This realization took me quite a long time but buying a project bike in May 2020 after leaving NYC really impacted my life.
The concept of a community is incredible to me but to find or create a genuine one is something I seek. I’m committing to this new creative journey of discovery via Roun. My mission includes more than just nurturing curiosity but ultimately writing books, creating films, and establishing a destination for people that love exploring on 2 or 4 wheels. We shall see how this evolves and I’m trying to not let this daunting task fade. Cheers to a positive future and one that shines light on the beauty that exists all around us.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.justintompkins.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justinptompkins
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinptompkins
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rounmoto
- Other: In addition Roun’s IG is www.instagram.com/rounmoto
Image Credits
Justin Tompkins (myself)