Fine Art Black & White Photography - Intimate Portrayals of Everyday Places
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.
Josef Kouldelka -Panorama, drama and perspective
Josef Sudek -Still life, light and mist
Graciela Iturbide - Juxtaposition and darkness
Michael Kenna - Perfection
SebastiĆ£o Salgado - Humanity
Harry Callahan - Texture
Clyde Butcher - Serenity, grandeur and scale
Edward Weston - Still life
Mark Citret - Diffused light and pastel textures
Imogen Cunningham - Implied sensuality
Lynn Learned - Mentor and critic