PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM DOYLE
Now that everybody (we hope) is safely “sheltering in place” the challenge can be: what can we do to pass the time? Many of you have families to care for, and school-age children to educate. Many of you are probably working from home, and many of you are reading books or developing new hobbies.
Midtown resident Tim Doyle, a photographer who specializes in neat old places, decided to use his time to compile images he had been taking of local churches into a poster called, quite simply, “The Doorways of Memphis Churches.”
"This basically came about as an extension of photographing Memphis buildings and artwork and architecture,” he says. “When my wife, Rachel, and I were dating long-distance, I thought about making a photo book for her of church doorways with lyrics to Peter Gabriel’s ‘In Your Eyes’ on the pages. She had never seen the movie Say Anything (almost unforgivable), but I remedied that before we got married.
“Anyway, I never got the book made (sorry, honey). But I’ve worked on this poster project off and on over the last two or three months, waiting for cloudy (but not rainy) days so there wouldn't be harsh shadows in the doorways. Editing it took longer than shooting it, because it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle that changes every time you move one piece.”
Doyle says that he’s gotten a great response from everyone who’s seen the poster, because everyone tries to identify the churches.
“One of the fascinating things when you're doing something like this is what you start to notice. On any errand I ran, I'd see a church I'd never seen before, even if I'd driven by it hundreds of times. Then, circling back to get a better look, I'd inevitably see another church, or a piece of art I'd never noticed, or a business I didn't know was there. It's actually a bit embarrassing how much of my surroundings I'm oblivious to on a daily basis, even as a photographer. And the remedy is as simple as choosing to look.”
Two years ago he produced a couple of "Memphis: Then and Now" videos and also made some prints of old buildings for sale at the Cooper-Young Festival and other venues. One of his most unusual projects has, so far, brought him the most attention. He produced a short stop-motion film about the life cycle of a ladybug. Yes, a ladybug.
Photo by Tim Doyle
“For some reason, that went viral and now has more than 3 million views,” Doyle says. “I have no explanation for it, but in the last few months The Dodo [the animal-themed channel] has featured two of my videos. It’s been a very interesting year."
“The Doorways of Memphis Churches” is available as a print and poster, in various sizes.
Check out more of Doyle’s work on his Instagram page.
