James hopes simply to change the viewers mind in some way than what it was before they saw the work in a positive meaningful experience.
Either to learn, or question something about themselves, in the work or see something to life and the subject that’s new in a way they had not before.
To have impact on some ones life in some way is an honor you can’t get from cheap imagery. It takes time to create the work. A critical mindful process not only in it’s analog creation but in the narrative or subconscious serendipity. Of course this is only a dream for him.
This is where I kind of wanted to be when I first started this process and the I am allowed to be myself at my fullest. Growing up in the theater with Mom and both my Parents being Opera Singers I was saturated with the drama of the stage and music. James grew up in New York City and has been in various creative worlds in his life such as Advertising, Illustration and graphic Arts. James believes we are, in part mostly a product of our own environment. Some things we can change, some things are just going to happen no matter how hard you plan against it. James avoided a singing career like his parents, yet stayed close to creativity and harnessing other forms of expression. One thing he never stopped doing for long, ever since his first polaroid camera when we was only ten, was stop taking photos. There were years in between but he always returned to taking photos. However, it was only until his mid thirties that he decided to go back to college and study photography and art as a profession.
Much of the concept comes from the days before digital blue screens where scenes in early cinema where staged with painted backdrops and unsophisticated wardrobe. Keeping a “feel” from a time long ago but making imagery with a current subject matter in mind. These projects take many months of coordination with other artists and are a thing of love, patients and persistence. James is a man caught in two worlds. One where his commercial photo training tells him he must be perfect. The other his the rebel artist inside that kicks dirt on the clean image and says wow that looks cool!
Collodion Tintypes: Handmade photographs. Just a smudge of Alchemy. Improving my technique and understanding over time. However always making the effort to bring a contemporary narrative to this antiquated process.
James also suffers from dyslexia. A rare form that includes numbers. It is in fact that at times he struggles to do simple math problems because he cannot form the right numbers in his mind to to the calculations. This made photography and the chemistry and process he does now very difficult. So after many hours and seat and tears James was able to build a workflow and start to bring his imagination to the images he’s made. James hangs on the edge the subconscious at work. Knowing there is only so much control one can have in this old, chemistry based process. That some things, even the mistakes, are meant to be there. There is always a story to tell, always a surprise in the end. Everyone else, once you know it all, well to him is boring. The mystery of life, his subjects, light and process make his life worth while. He says he never stops learning. [Official Website]
