A look at the life of Photojournalism Teacher Jeff Coleman.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Coleman
If Photojournalism Teacher Jeff Coleman’s life were a photo album, it would be full to bursting with pictures of the different places he’s seen and all the things he’s done. Though one of his current passions may be getting up early to catch the sunrise with his photo club, Coleman’s interests did not always lie in photography. “I studied French in college and I was a French teacher for quite a while before I started teaching photography,” said Coleman. “I was the French teacher here [at TJ] for five years.”
As a young man, Coleman says he was much like many high school student: a little caught up in the hustle and bustle, and unsure of what to do in life. “For most of the time I was in high school, I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up, and my early years of college the same. I was a sociology major at first, mainly just because I liked one of the professors in that department,” said Coleman. “Then I left school for a long time, and when I went back, I was interested in French literature, so I studied that. And when I got my degree, there was nothing I could do with it but become a teacher, so that’s how I ended up in the teaching profession.”
During Coleman’s leave of absence from school, he was incredibly active. “I spent four years in the Coast Guard running search and rescue boats on northern Lake Michigan,” said Coleman. “It was mostly pretty boring, but there were occasions where we got in some fairly hairy rescues. One in particular stands out: there was a 26-foot Catalina sailboat that had capsized in a storm. That was pretty much an all night operation,” he laughs, “trying to get it righted and towed in.” Harrowing though his experiences were, he says they were not all life or death situations. “There were some pretty humorous calls,” he chuckles. “There was a guy that’d run his boat aground on just about every sandbar in a 50-mile radius.”
After his time in the Coast Guard, Coleman moved to Colorado and got a job at a ski shop. “It was nice, because being in the ski business you get a lot of perks, as far as deals on equipment, free lift tickets, and stuff like that,” said Coleman. “It was a fun job; most of the time you had days off during the week so you could ski when the slopes weren’t crowded. We’d ski 40-50 days a year.”
Throughout his life, Coleman has traveled across the globe. “I’ve been all over the United States, and then covered a fair amount of Europe and Australia. I’ve never been to Africa or Asia yet, or South America, but those are places on my list,” said Coleman, who, although he’s been all over, says it’s hard to pick a favorite. “That’s a tough call,” he says, stroking his chin. “I really like Ireland, and I really like Western Australia. The people there are real friendly and interesting.”
Yet it was the call of the camera that finally drew Coleman in. “What I got interested in was black and white photography back in the film days, and I think it was looking at other photographs by really good photographers like Robert Capa, and Margaret Bourke-White, and people like that,” said Coleman. “When I really got interested in making my own photographs was about 18-20 years ago.”
Photography is, much like any art form, hard to master for most people. However, Coleman is not most people. “Mostly I taught myself [photography] over time,” said Coleman. “I’ve had a few mentors that have taught me a little bit here and there, and I attended some workshops, but mostly I’m self taught.”
Photography is more than just a subject to teach for Coleman. “Photography is an art form, it’s a means of expression; it’s a way for the photographer to express their personal vision, as much as it is a way of representing the reality of the physical world,” said Coleman. “The whole process of creating a photograph, everything that you do from the beginning, when you start scoping out a site, figuring out what you’re going to shoot, what kind of equipment you need, is just an enjoyable process. In the old days, back when we still did film, the dark room was a big favorite of mine. I loved spending hours in there, messing around with the chemicals and making magic.”
Coleman loves everything about photography, as well as teaching it. And though things have changed, Coleman’s kept up with the times. “Photoshop allows you to do amazing things that you could never do before,” said Coleman. “You can create images that weren’t possible with just film and chemicals, but there was a certain hands-on, getting up to your elbows in it, splashing around kind of quality that the dark room had that you don’t get with digital processing.”
In his spare time, Coleman enjoys sailing around Lake Dillon, canoeing in various lakes, wind surfing, hiking, reading, cycling, and playing a wide variety of musical instruments, including the guitar, the bass guitar, and the mandolin. “Everybody plays the guitar, but not many play the mandolin,” said Coleman. “I wanted to try something different.”
Though his days in the darkroom are gone, Coleman’s photo album of life won’t be done developing for quite a while.
