Life, Values & Legacy: Our Chat with Jerome Cabeen of Beaumont, Texas

We recently had the chance to connect with Jerome Cabeen and have shared our conversation below.

Jerome, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
This regimen holds resolute, as it sets the tone for the rest of the day. The first 90 minutes of my day begins with 30 minutes of meditation and chanting Buddhist prayers. After that I shower, take my supplements and have my coffee. The first and last (mediation and coffee) are the most important! Coffee for a photographer and teacher is an indispensable commodity.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Jerome Cabeen. I am a professional photographer based out of Beaumont, Texas. As well, I have returned to teaching at the Middle School level with the Beaumont Independent School District. The arts has always been a stalwart facet of my life. I was born and raised in Houston, and my family was very artistic. From my parents to my four older brothers, there were always an array of art supplies around our home. Naturally and very democratically, I immersed myself into all manner of creative expression at a young age.

I graduated from Sam Houston State University in 1990 with a degree in Fine Arts/ Education. The classroom was my home for several years in Houston. From 2004 through 2010 I taught in Honduras (Central America) and Liberia (Africa). Though I was in my late 30’s and early 40’s at the time, my six years over seas was a rebirth for me. It gave me a new appreciation for each day.

Photography is a rather new endeavor for me. There never was a time I didn’t love photography. I tell people I was photographing long before I became a photographer. Due to teaching and keeping a paint brush or pencil in my hand, I had never pursued it beyond a hobby.

All of that changed in 2019 when I decided to take up photography more seriously. And just like that, almost overnight, it took off on me in ways I never could have expected. I am fortunate beyond words to live two doors down from a man named Jim Turner. It turns out Jim is, and I use this term in its most literal sense, a genius in all phases and styles of photography. He became my teacher and guru. I feel as if I have been in photography school the last six years. Jim pushes me, challenges me and helps me to see the world in a way I didn’t before. If it were not for him I wouldn’t be doing this interview right now.

I have traveled the world with JUNO Award winning Calypso band Kobo Town out of Toronto, serving as their principal concert and behind the scenes photographer. Additionally, I have served as the principal photographer for local, award winning blues band, Melon Jelly. I have worked extensively with Magnolia Grove Buddhist Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi and their root monastery, Plum Village near Bordeaux, France. I am also a contributing writer for Tricycle: The Buddhist review magazine.

The last six years I have been blessed to have been recognized internationally for my photography, and while winning awards and being celebrated for my art is an honor, the greatest and most sacred aspect of my journey with the camera is the people I have met and befriended. From the homeless trying to survive day to day in Paris, Oslo, Toronto, or some other large city, or musicians at music festivals, I have found the spark of what I call the Greater Love in each and every person I have met. All of them remain my diamonds on the inside.

As a photographer, the streets are my home. They are pulsing, vibrant and they tell stories without using words. I am never more comfortable than when I am walking the streets of some city, somewhere, with my cameras. Be it Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Lima, Peru or Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the streets are the life blood of our world. For a photojournalist like myself they are blank canvases in which we record our stories. Sometimes the streets can lead through dark places, and as an artist, I have found the darkness to be a friend.

Professionally I have had several solo exhibitions of my photography at museums and art galleries in Texas and Louisiana, giving me a platform to share my experiences with a wider audience. Again, this has allowed me to meet new friends and talk about my passion for photography.

Currently I serve as the Vice President of the Beaumont Camera Club, a lively and outrageously talented group of photographers that push me to be better everyday. Outside of photography and school, I love traveling, meeting new people, music, writing… sleeping (that is a wonderful hobby I would suggest to anyone), and just hanging out with my dog and three cats.

It is an honor and a privilege to be able to share my photographic endeavors with Voyage Houston, thank you for your interest. I am genuinely honored!

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
My defensive line coach at Houston Madison High School was a major factor in my maturation. I loved football, but wasn’t very good at it. The team I was on my senior year was nationally ranked and we had many players that went on to play college and professional football. I wanted to quit. It was hard, painful and frustrating. I knew I wasn’t going to play much and attempted to turn my equipment in on more than one occasion. The coach was George Dearborn and he refused to let me quit. He made me understand that if I quit a tough situation now at a young age, it would set the foundation for quitting my entire journey through life. He told me that what I did now, way back in 1984 and 1985, would set the tone for me, and of course he was correct. He also conveyed the limitless potential he saw in me and he simply wasn’t letting me turn my equipment in. He saw me and understood me before I did, that’s for sure. His impact in my life has carried over into everything I am, especially photography. There are times my creative ability dries up, or my eye can’t see compositions as easily as before, and it becomes quite frustrating. I always think back to his influence on me and his refusal to let me quit. It’s still a motivating factor to this day. Coach Dearborn passed away several years ago. I think of him often and am thankful he was part of my life.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I stopped hiding my pain and started transforming it as power back in 2019 when I first picked up a camera and decided I wanted to really get to know photography on a personal level. I had been through a series of monumental losses in my life beginning in 2011, and these waves of loss continued to come one after another, all the way through 2021. I tell my friends and photography colleagues often that the camera saved me. I am being quite serious when I share this. One of my biggest influences in photography is Alfred Eisenstaedt, and he was quoted in an interview one time, “When I have a camera in my hand, I know no fear.” That has become my mantra.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
For me the biggest lie in regards to photography is to be a successful or a top-notch photographer one must be recognized and celebrated. That simply is not true. I have been very fortunate that I have been able to achieve a modicum of notoriety in photography in a short period of time. However, the truth is, there are photographers in our camera club here in Beaumont and local photographers that photograph rings around me. These are people who simply have thrown themselves into photography for the sake of photography, and I look at their art and I think, “Oh wow, I have a long way to go to get to that level.” The fact is, right here in the Golden Triangle are of Texas, there are innumerable photographers that are so proficient and creative that it would be impossible to name them all. We have some of the best photographers in Texas right here in the Beaumont area.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
That I loved others deeply. That I listened with deep empathy and concern. At the end of it all the only thing that remains is love. We can walk through this temporal journey with a weary bravado, and many of us do, however, if love is not the spearhead for everything that is done, we have missed the point. We get but one chance and for me, I lead with love.

None of us is perfect, we have all made our mistakes and missed the mark, however when it is all said and done, if… as the Dave Matthews Band sings… “Above all else, if kindness is your king, then heaven will be yours before you meet your end.” I plan on meeting my end with my cameras in my hand and a passionate love in my heart. What could be better?

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All images belong to me, Jerome Cabeen.

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