by Haley Campbell
As a 78-year-old photojournalism professor shares his previous and current careers in a recent interview, his eyes twinkle remembering his past. Medford Taylor has been taking photographs for almost 40 years. Taylor says, “A lot can happen between now and later.” For him, this means technology for photography has changed over the years and has an impact on the way he views photography today.
“Imagine being in Australia alone sitting on the cool ground beside a roaring fire, looking into the dark starry sky and listening to the night owls come alive. Now that’s what I live for!” says Medford Taylor in his recent interview. Taylor grew up in a small town in North Carolina. Medford Taylor said, “Whenever my parents couldn’t find me, they knew I was in the attic of our neighbor’s house looking at Life Magazines.” He also added, “I would be up there for hours looking at those magazines.” This was just the beginning of Taylor’s life journey.
In later years, Taylor attended High Point University receiving a Bachelor of Science degree. After college, he went to serve in the Navy as a naval officer for five years. Then he proceeded to continue his education in graduate school at the University of Missouri, majoring in photojournalism. During Taylor’s days in the University of Missouri, he attended a photojournalism workshop where workers from Life Magazine, National Geographic, and Black Star New York helped inspire him. After the week class, Taylor said, “I was so inspired with the process and with the people I left knowing that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And I never looked back.”
Taylor’s first career as a photojournalist was for a big newspaper company in Houston, Texas called the Houston Chronicle.Then later, he was on the staff at Virginian-Pilotin Norfolk. Taylor stated, “They were great newspaper days. You really did learn a lot because it starts fresh every day.” After Taylor’s newspaper days, he went to work in Washington, D.C where he freelanced for Time. When working for Time, Taylor covered stories on the White House, Capitol Hill, and traveled with the president.
Later Taylor would start working on short stories for National Geographic Travel. Eventually, he picked up stories in the actual National Geographicmagazine. In the interview, Taylor had a sparkle in his eye when he started to replay those memories at National Geographic. Taylor said, “Working for National Geographic was the highlight of my career.” Taylor then asked me if I wanted to know why the pictures in the magazine were breathtaking. He said, “The secret to those pictures is time.” Taylor also showed me some pictures books he had put together of the different photographs he had taken over the years. As we looked at some of the pictures, we giggled at the angles and what was happening in the picture.
During the interview Taylor made a comment while smiling, saying, he used to have a map of all the countries he had been to. I could tell it made him happy thinking about the memories he made while in those 40 different countries. Out of all of those countries Taylor visited, he said Australia was his favorite. In the interview, Taylor told me, “I had a Ford Land Cruiser packed full of my equipment, four extra tires, extra fuel, water, and food.” He even added while laughing, “I had a mini fridge in the back of the Land Cruiser that I kept oranges in.” While Taylor was in the outback working on a story, he would mainly focus on the work the people did in Australia and the landscapes.
Taylor personally says, once he moved into the fine arts of studio art, it was easier for him to teach others and also made it more enjoyable. It’s more enjoyable for him to teach classes on studio arts because he does not have to follow the restrictions of journalism and “you can do what you want”. Taylor mentions that he still goes out every morning to take pictures in his 3,200-acre backyard with his cat, Luke. Taylor is currently a professor at an all-girls, liberal arts college in Amherst, Virginia called Sweet Briar College. He teaches women about the way studio art works and how to become a better photographer. Taylor mainly focuses on getting girls aware of what is out in the world and getting girls more engaged in the arts. Taylor says to his classes, “I am just here to try to help you see.”
Over a three-week time period at Sweet Briar College, Taylor taught a smart phone class on how to take better pictures with a phone. The class traveled to Lynchburg to do street photography. The class also went to a museum in Roanoke. Taylor says, “Most people just took a big picture but would not take time to study it and look for a smaller picture.” Taylor’s philosophy to mastering this goal “is to stop and smell the roses.”
Taylor also teaches multiple digital photography classes. In these classes, Taylor gets each student to do an online book full of the picture they have taken during the semester. At the end of the semester, each student presents their book, and they have the choice of getting it printed off or just leave it online. For some of the more advanced classes, Taylor gets students to do more advanced projects with digital photography.
Taylor says that digital photography has changed so much from when he was a kid, to his careers, and to now. He says that when he was in the outback in Australia, he had film and every two weeks he would have to ship 40 plus rolls of film back to Washington, to the headquarters. At Washington, they would process the photos, send them to the photo editors office and then they would call Taylor back to describe the pictures, how to make them better, what to do and what not to do. Taylor said, “It was hard at times because I couldn’t see my own photos since they were all the way back in Washington.” Today photographers do not use film, so we don’t have to send them somewhere to get developed. With digital photography now, you have cameras that have Wi-Fi built in and see the photos right then and there. Also, you can upload straight from your camera to the computer, edit it and send it anywhere. Taylor says, “It’s one of the miracles of digital photography today.”
As we know it photography has changed so much from pictures being taken by film to digital cameras and now pictures can be taken from your smart phone. Taylor has shared his lifelong love for photography, previous career adventures and how photography has changed over the years for him. Medford Taylor says, “I sure do like the new advancements of digital photography today.” I think photography has come a long way since it started, and I cannot wait to see what is next in store for photography.
Work Cited Page
All quotes and information came from an interview with Medford Taylor on November 5, 2018.