Meet Tyler Germaine | Photographer, Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tyler Germaine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyler, why did you pursue a creative career?
Creativity has always been in me. My mom had me reading before I was in school. Because of that, I fell deeply in love with stories and characters, fantasy and the like. That little seed gave me the curiosity and imagination to explore as many forms of creation as I could find.

At 8, I began taking piano lessons after seeing the high school jazz band in my school district. It was the first time I realized that I could be the one making the thing I enjoyed. I ended up a percussionist in middle school and continued that through college.

At 12, a friend of mine brought a cheap camcorder he bought at a garage sale to a sleepover. We made a short video that night and suddenly I wanted to be a filmmaker. So much so that I eventually got a degree in it and began a career.

at 22, I bought my first camera. It was a Canon 70D with a kit lens, not the best but it worked for me. I never had done photography, I barely knew how to use a camera. I honestly only planned to use it for video. But this was January of 2017 I only remember that because Donald Trump had just got into office, and not too long afterwards instated the travel ban. There was a protest at TCU and I decided it was the right time to try and take photos.

Each of those things added to an ever-growing notion in my head that I loved and was made to make art. Reading taught me to understand that we communicate best through stories, that emotions lead the way we think. Music gave me an insight into creating, into experimentation. It taught me the theatrics behind performance, and the beauty of sound. Making that little video at 12 was the first craft I realized I could have a future with. That one hit me hard. It was that perfect age where I started looking forward and I realized I could make a whole life out of this.

And finally, there was photography. It was the first time I realized I could take part in a long history of artists capturing reality. Expressing our joys and frustrations. It was also the first medium I really got to witness myself improving and growing in. It wasn’t just something I felt I was getting better at, but a medium I grew as a person in tandem with my technical skills. It intertwined itself into my life so deeply, I can’t understand what it would be like to not have a camera on me.

I chose to pursue creativity because it was the only option for me. There is nothing else I care this much about. There is no other way I see myself impacting anyone. It’s dramatic, but I mean thats what art is, isn’t it?

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I initially came into the professional world as a filmmaker. That was the medium I found that seemed to work for me. It still is but I realized pretty quickly that the big screen wasn’t where I wanted to end up. I love making videos and I continue to do it professionally but it just wasn’t the end goal. By the time I realized that, I had dedicated the last 10 years to trying to accomplish this. I remember feeling very lost and depressed. I remember taking very long drives to try and forget that I didn’t have a clear path in my head.

Because of this, I found myself at The Modern in Fort worth. I went in seeking an escape and instead I found an exhibit by the artist Doug Aitken titled “Electric Earth”, a collection of film, photography, and sculpture. I had just started taking photos and I remember there being a profound epiphany. I had spent my entire life believing art was nothing more than paintings and marble statues. Suddenly, here I was in a room filled with two of the mediums I understood, and it was mesmerizing. I have a distinct memory of sitting in a circular room, with a large screen extending all the way around me as a music video shot by Aitken’s played his piece “Song 1”. And in that moment, I thought to myself, “Why am I keeping myself only to the screen.”

That was the spark I needed to no longer constrain myself to making only movies. Suddenly I saw I could make just about whatever felt right and maybe somebody would appreciate it enough to keep me going.

I reframed myself as a photographer, finding that I enjoyed the process more. I’ve been incredibly fortunate since then, shooting for Pepsi, Dickies, American Heart Association, and other leading brands.

It’s been a long road since then, I’ve come to slowly find my style and purpose. I have began to focus on the presentation of photography, incorporating the framing and printing as a part of the art. But more importantly, I have found community in the arts. I have found that we cannot survive on simply working, our brains need so much more.

Creation is what humans do, it’s what brings us together, whether it’s artistic or mechanical or what. That’s the power of it, that’s why I do this.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a Fort Worth man through and through. We might go to Dallas for a second, But we’d be in Fort Worth as much as we could be.

We’d eat at only the best spots, whether it’s Vickery Cafe, Gustos, Big Kat Burger, Ellerbe’s, Tokyo Cafe, Panther City BBQ, and so many other amazing restaurants.

For fun, you gotta go shopping at Doc’s Records or Ties to the Past. We’d see unbelievable art at The Modern, the Kimbell, Amon Carter, or Arts Fort Worth. We’d take walks in trinity park or the botanic garden. We’d hang out at Down ‘n Out or Hotel Dryce to see the cool crowd and if they wanted a damn good beer, we’d be at HopFusion Ale Works in a heart beat.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There’s so many to recognize. I’ll start with my mom, for pushing me into my imagination and not letting me grow up distracted by technology.

To Woody Smith, for teaching me music was more than just a hobby,

To Stuart Spoon, for keeping me excited about creation, to showing me how to put myself fully into it,

To Mariell Guzman, for loving me and pushing me to express everything I have inside of me,

and to artists like Hipgnosis, Laurie Simmons, Doug Aitken, Edward Steichen, Richard Linklater, Yann Tiersen, and so many others that have been brave enough to share their ideas with us.

Website: https://www.superdupertyler.com/

Instagram: Super_Duper_Tyler

Other: Link to Book: https://shop.snap-collective.com/en-us/products/the-jamboree-anthology-by-tyler-germaine?_pos=1&_sid=2232c6428&_ss=r