the Good LIFE

Seeing things through a different lens

By Cara Spoto, staff writer

Tim Keane has always loved experimentation.

Working in the world of marketing – first for GE Healthcare and then as the founder of a direct marketing company – the Milwaukee-area businessman learned how to test and tweak campaigns until he got the desired outcome.

Today, the former Marquette University business professor and founder of Brookfield-based Golden Angels Investors, is putting that love for experimentation into his photography.

“For me, creativity is always about experimentation,” said Keane who rediscovered his love for photography about 15 years ago. “You try to present a unique vision of something that perhaps somebody hasn’t seen before, or that makes them look at a person in a different way than maybe they have.”

Keane has produced dozens of professional portraits, a bevy of travelogue images from various parts of America as well as an array of artistic photos. Most recently, the photographer has been documenting the lives of workers at Master Lube oil change stations in Billings, Montana, where employees are given free classes, coaching and mentorship so they can eventually leave the garage to pursue a different vocation.

“They are actually teaching people how to be successful enough to quit,” said Keane, who plans to publish a photo book about the program.

Keane said he wasn’t sure what to expect when embarking on the project.

“The work is tough. It’s hot and grimy. If it is 105 (degrees) outside, it’s 120 under the car … but (the workers) really like it,” he said. “I don’t know if this book will find an audience. I hope it might. I do hope that what it does is inspire somebody else to do the same thing.” n