MTSU Sidelines, 11.13.2013
Carefully labeled boxes of film and digital prints stacked floor to ceiling form the skeletal foundation of the office occupied by MTSU’s favorite photography professor, Jonathan Trundle.
The vast collection of slides, reels, equipment and literature pertaining to photography’s past and present seem to levitate between trinkets and artwork, forming an ideal haven for fellow “light sculpters”.
Wearing faded yellow hi-top Converse and denim overalls over a tie-dye tshirt, Trundle commented that he does, in fact, perform optimally in a “cluttered” workspace. “I do know where everything is,” he assured softly and with a grin. “It’s perfect.”
Artistic Beginnings
Even in high school, Trundle exhibited artistic interest and involvement. He held a position with his high school newspaper and worked on the yearbook staff. Talents in drawing and painting formed a foundation for which would later become a lengthy and successful career.
His interest in the photography field began later in the fall of 1996 when he was just 17 years old. Upon enrolling in his first photography class at UTC in Chattanooga, he quickly fell in love with the medium and its capabilities for expression. At the time declared a Fine Arts major, he later transferred to MTSU in 1999 to pursue a degree in photography, with minors in art and theatre.
Ever since, it has become in large part a way of life.
Sculpting His Own Light
Throughout graduate school at the Maryland Institute College of Art and on through his current work, Trundle has been influenced and inspired by movement in imagery and playing with the quality of light. He illustrates these fascinations through his ongoing work with slit scan photography.
The slit scan process involves removing the shutter and “rolling” film through the camera manually. Instead of creating multiple frames on a single roll of film, slit scan creates one long continuous image that encapsulates the blurred effect of movement.
Camera modification in itself has become a valued part of his work. The involvement necessary to construct cameras “to work well beyond the factory-established frame” in itself is an art.
One of his projects currently in progress is his work with vinyl records through which he seeks to portray music through imagery. The images showcase records, namely Beatles records, manipulated and distorted into shapes resembling waves of sound.
Over the period of his education and career Trundle has acquired somewhere between 300 and 350 different cameras. Among the vast collection are several 35mm film cameras, holgas, Polaroids, and digital. His favorite of which he said would have to be a 35mm Hasselblad.
Though Trundle has many projects currently in progress, one of the more prominent includes his rosy cheeked seven month old son, Arlo as the main subject. He has so far taken a photo of his wife Liberty and Arlo under a tree in their backyard at the end of her pregnancy, when Arlo was a newborn and then six months old. A project he intends to continue in future age milestones.
Besides photography, Trundle enjoys extracurricular pursuits in woodworking, screen printing, camera modification and collecting vinyl records.
New Location and a Bright Future
After spending the majority of his career in the current photography building, Trundle is saddened, yet excited at the departments upcoming move to the McFarlane building.
“Theres a wonderful opportunity for evolving the program and building it into something extremely strong and unique. It’s a wonderful thing,” he assured.
The new building is smaller in size, but will be renovated to utilize the entire space for productivity, including a larger studio, a designated digital workspace and more prominent student gallery. There will also be a small student lounge area and best of all, no more cinder block walls.
“It’s going to be a very visually stimulating space with the opportunity for students to have work on the walls almost every place you look,” Trundle said happily. “This is going to be a big win for MTSU, the EMC department and photography in general.”
When asked about the old building being moved to make way for the new science building and how that portrays the university’s priority to departments, he replied “I don’t think the move says anything about the priority of sciences over the arts, but more of supply and demand to house the number of students and facilities for those students. It’s definitely time.”
As the program progresses, Trundle would like to see a growth towards more contemporary trends in digital, but still hold onto and maintain the history of the medium. Film, though underrated, is still relevant and has a strong presence in the creative world though it may have dwindled in professional and commercial use.
“There’s a lot you can do with digital that you could never do with film, and there’s a lot you can do with film that you could never do with digital,” he attested. “It’s limiting in both directions.”
He’s also an advocate for marrying fine arts with the sciences, in this case, understanding the equipment and how it works.
“You have to know the tools before you can create with them,” he said.
Five years from now, Trundle would still like to be teaching his favorite subject. He wants to observe MTSU’s photography program develop into a much larger and more robust program that creatively enriches the students he thoroughly enjoys teaching.
“Giving students a concept and seeing where they go with it is very fulfilling,” he said proudly. “Being able to express with imagery is just as important as with words.”
Students with even the slightest interest in photography would benefit directly from the wealth of knowledge and creative spirit that resides in Professor Trundle’s classes. He is sure to elicit a kind smile, warm welcome and careful instruction to all that come willing to learn his beloved art.