Tim Murphy Artist Profile
By Lucia Novara
When local photographer Tim Murphy was growing up his father brought a camera whenever they went on an adventure. While the family travelled through Australia, India and Lebanon Murphy learned to help his father spot the pictures that captured the heart of their experiences.
By the time Murphy finished high school in Ft. Collins, Colorado, he knew he wanted to study photography. After getting a bachelor's degree in commercial photography from the Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California, he worked for other photographers shooting products for catalogues and architecture for the Parade of Homes. In 1993 Murphy moved to Steamboat Springs with $100 in his pocket.
Murphy worked as a city bus driver and a carpenter while building his portfolio. He was working full time as a craftsman on a home when he showed some of his Parade of Homes pictures to Joe Patrick Robbins, the architect who was managing the project.
“Why are you playing carpenter?” Robbins asked, “This is what you should be doing.”
Murphy took some shots of that project, and the pictures were published in Mountain Living Magazine and Cowboys & Indians. Robbins has worked with Murphy for more than twelve years now.
"One thing that sets him apart from other photographers is that he's a very talented carpenter and craftsman, so he has that perspective in shooting,” Robbins says.
When asked to shoot a house, Murphy will visit at a few different times of day to take snapshots and get a feel for the place. His style is to make the home look natural and lived in, rather than staged or overly glossy.
“My roots are in how to build a house, not just in what makes a pretty picture. I'm always looking at the craftwork and the hard work that goes into creating a home,” Murphy says.
He finds a spot to shoot from where the lines of the house speak to him. When he photographed a house where the primary motif was a giant curved roof cantilevered over the deck, he walked around and around until he found the spot that best showcased the arch of the roof. From the front of the home, or at another angle, the drama of the main feature didn't come through.
“I go to a spot I respond to, and I trust my intuition that's the right spot,” Murphy says,
“I let the architecture and the house tell me what its dominant feature is.”
Along with architecture, Murphy also photographs cycling products, and fine art.
“I'm a big bike geek and it's one of those things that is hard to make a dollar doing,” Murphy says.
He has combined his skills behind the camera and his love of bikes for a number of cycling companies including Steamboat's own Moots Cycles, Kent Eriksen Cycles and Canyon Bicycles. He makes an annual trip to Europe to shoot products on some of the most famous cycling race routes in the world.
Murphy says shooting action well is a mix of experience and luck. He got his first magazine cover in 1991 when he went to the very first Mountain Bike World Championships in Durango. He went just for fun, but took a lot of shots and his snap of rider John Tomac burning down the trail landed him the cover of Velo News.
Murphy also works with many local artists to document and highlight their work. He recently shot Steamboat sculptor Christopher Oar's piece “Balance #3” for an opening at Vertical Arts Architecture. When shooting sculpture Murphy says, "Sometimes you try to be informational, sometimes dramatic, but good shots are both."
Murphy's work helps the causal viewer see what he sees through his experienced eyes; the craftwork that goes into a fine house, the glow from within that makes it a home, the excitement of speeding down a mountain on a bicycle. That's what Murphy is all about.
“I like working with Tim, we choose the shots together,” says Rob Subry, owner of Highland Design & Construction.
“I shot this house twice in one day. The other shot is a perfectly blue sky. But this appeals to me more,” Murphy says.
“We first met working on a carpentry project, and I didn't know how good of a photographer he was. Ever since he took the first photos [of one of my houses] I knew we would work together.” Joe Patrick Robbins
“When I shoot interiors I try to find a spot in the house that moves me,” Murphy says.
Murphy took this shot of Moots Director of Product Development Brad Bingham during a shoot for Bike Magazine at the company's production facility. “Their bikes are works of art,” Murphy says.
Murphy got this picture on a mountain pass near Lago di Como in Italy. “I was hanging off the back of the car, right above the road, and I had to trust the guys on the bikes to not run into me, and the driver to not run off the road.”
Christopher Oar's “Balance #3” on display at Vertical Arts Architecture. “The studio has gallery space that shows a nice blend of how art and architecture go together, and they present that to their clients,” Murphy says.
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