Unless noted, all images
©Bevil Templeton-Smith
Eleven
This is Dek Unu Magazine. In Esperanto, dek unu means "eleven." Eleven images from a single artist. Eleven artists in eleven solo issues in each publication year. Dek Unu publishes the work of a new artist-photographer in each issue. The artist's work and words are featured in individual focus as the sole purpose for each issue of the magazine. Unlike other arts and letters magazines which might look for work from a variety of artists to support an editorial staff's theme, at Dek Unu, theme and imagery are always each artist's own.
It’s axiomatic among photographers and appreciators that photography helps one to see. The medium’s ability to stop time, change its focus, frame its fragments is its superpower. Diane Arbus said, “I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.” That is overwhelmingly true with Bevil Templeton-Smith’s digital microscopy. Working with an antique research microscope, an artist’s eye, and considerable mechanical ingenuity, he shows us what an even tinier sliver of an almost invisibly small crystal of sweetener looks like. Arbus’s, and every other successful photographer’s best work produces a reaction, a discovery, a flash, a moment of recognition which often results in a like, a love, a wow, or the ever-popular “WTF.” Bevil Templeton-Smith’s very large, incandescent, abstract photography demonstrates that point superbly. His voice is clear, his designs are crafty, and those vibrating colors get a “Woah!” all on their own.
Photographer Robert Capa’s advice is often quoted, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you are not close enough.” It’s another axiom that Templeton-Smith proves convincingly. He titles this series “Looking Closer” and definitely means it. With optical and software magic, he enlarges a 2mm crystal to 1.3 meters for final gallery display. Go ahead, please. Look closer. Zoom in on any of these images to get a hint of the power of Bevil’s art. And, please feel free to go, “Woah!”
