Visual Wabi-Sabi For The Digital Era
HUMANITY - ECOLOGY - CONNECTION
1985 – 2000 London
2000 – 2004 Somerset
2004 – 2005 London
2005 – 2008 Newcastle
2008 – 2009 Argentina
2009 – 2023 London
2023 – 2024 Devon
2024 - 2026 London + Devon
2000 – 2004 Somerset
2004 – 2005 London
2005 – 2008 Newcastle
2008 – 2009 Argentina
2009 – 2023 London
2023 – 2024 Devon
2024 - 2026 London + Devon
William Joshua Templeton is a Devon based, self taught, documentary and portrait photographer. His work investigates connection, the environment and our place within it. Using film, digital and experimental photographic techniques, he employs a cinematic documentary style that mixes raw and collaborative approaches to making pictures.
"My mission is to encourage a balanced partnership between humanity and our environment, by exploring positively focused stories that help us realise we're all a part of this beautiful ecosystem and not divorced from it.”
Templeton supports the International Rescue Committee, the Rivers Trust and donates 1% of annual sales to environmental organisations via the 1% for the Planet initiative.
Previous work includes Ways and Means: River Pollution in England, a project released as a book by La Mentale publishing in Jan 2024 and exhibited at Torbay Gallery, London and Create Space Bristol. Environmentalism in Embakasi, shot for Culture COP, which brings the voice of culture to the annual COP conferences. The project documented the work of a young environmental activist in a southern Nairobi urban informal settlement. "I Only Wish I Made You Realise How Beautiful I Think You Are", a short film commissioned by Proposition Studios, exploring a simple question: how can we use our unique existence to leave a positive mark on the world? York University commissioned Confluence for Change that explores chemical pollutants in Yorkshire’s waterways, exhibited at Sliding Water Gallery, Yorkshire.
...if you really want to get into it, there's a long bio here
PUBLISHED IN
BBC News
The Independent
Conde Nast Traveller
Country and Town House
Positive.News
Sky News
CNN Business
You're a lushpot
AWARDS & EXHIBITIONS
2026 - The Photography Foundation Grant Recipient
2026 - Confluence for Change Exhibition, Siding Water Gallery, York
2025 - Ways and Means Exhibition, Bristol UWE, UK
2024 - Winner of the Hahnemühle Inspirational Excellence Award
2024 - Shortlisted for the International Photography Exhibition 166 by Royal Photographic Society
2024 - Ways and Means - River Pollution in England. Projection Transition Festival. Paris, France
2024 - Portrait of Humanity vol.6 by the British Journal of Photography
2024 - Receiver of the Biodiversity Finger Print Commission from Proposition Studios, London, UK
2024 - Human Nature. Group Exhibition. Proposition Studios, London, Uk
2024 - Ways and Means - River Pollution in England. Solo Exhibition. Create Centre, Bristol, UK
2024 - Ways and Means - River Pollution in England. Solo Exhibition. Torbay Galley, London, UK
2023 - The Prix de la Photographie. PX3 (Honourable Mention)
2023 - Helsinki Photo Festival (Short List)
2022 - ///Our Thing. Solo Exhibition. Breathe, London, UK
2022 - The Prix de la Photographie. PX3 (Honourable Mention)
2022 - Sustainable Adventure Photography (Runner Up)
2022 - Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award (Short List)
2022 - AOP Accredited Professional Photographer
2021 - Riparian Group Exhibition. Proposition Studios, London, UK
2020 - Social Documentary Network (Online)
2019 - Look Again: A Question of Perspective. Solo Exhibition. Carousel Gallery, London, UK
2017 - Red House. Group Exhibition. 20th Century Theatre, London, UK
Talks
2026 - The Future is in Your Hands - The York Festival of Ideas
2024 - Ecology and Biodiversity Panel with Alice Black and Katie Bret-Day, Proposition Studios, London, UK
