Railcar and Rooftop

San Francisco, Ca, 2002, 12 by 15, Pentax 67 II, Ilford HP5

Artist Statement

Gritty textures, delicate shades, bold forms, dramatic shadows, warm hues and dense blacks… these are just a few of the qualities that have always drawn me to black and white photography. As a medium for my own artistic expression, photography allows me to express my authentic nature. My images often include everyday places that are isolated from their surroundings just enough to focus attention on an aspect that might otherwise elude us as we go about our daily lives, and thus, evoking an intimacy that arises as one rediscovers the beauty in everything that surrounds us.

Over the years, I have grown to appreciate, and am therefore able to exploit, every aspect of the photographic process, including my choice of films and equipment, development chemistry and the printing process, as opportunities to enhance the creative result.

Artist Background

Third generation native Californian, James Sims, is strongly drawn to the state’s rugged and beautiful landscape. His family moved to Mendocino, California when Sims was ten. Sims developed a reverence for the environment around him from early years spent in the pine and redwood forests of the North Coast. This has evolved into a sensibility that is drawn to the raw and gritty representation that is so natural for black and white images.

Sims new series of photographs represent this view. From woodland Streams of dappled light to the ruins and decay of 19th century industrial facilities, Sims honors the pure and naked beauty discovered in the wilderness, cities, urban, industrial and agricultural areas. The contrast of light and shadow in the forest or the patina of industrial decay on a now condemned factory intrigues him equally. His images are rendered as fragments of our existence that together create a story of the dramatic cycles of our life on this planet.

Self trained as a photographer, Sims purchased his first 35 mm camera in 1976. He currently works with medium format and panoramic cameras. Using his vast experience in technology, he has created a superb, environmentally safe system to print his negatives. No photographic chemistry pollutes the fragile ecosystem that is his subject matter and all film chemistry is recycled.

Process

I am using a hybrid process, which is to say that it is analog (film) through to the production of the negative, and then a digital process is used to scan the negative, manipulate the image, and print. The digital portion of my process is greatly influenced by having started out printing in the darkroom. Somehow, I still think a bit in terms of of things like graded papers, dodging and burning.

Much like our appreciation for the growl of a Blues guitar as it distorts through a vintage tube amp, I am very partial to the curves, rather than linear response, that is inherent in each type film, developer, exposure (e.g., N-2), and paper.

There are endless 'religious debates' with valid points made by both the purists and digital sides. But the bottom line is that you just need to use a process that works for you, enhances your creativity, suits your style, and enables you to produce images that please, at least yourself, if not others. This process works for me. I like working in the light, and I am happy that this process is 'green' in the sense that its puts way less chemicals down the drain.

James M. Sims - Black and White Photography