Hello there!

It’s been a while, as I thought I would have sent out an update before mid-summer, but focusing on my commercial photography services this year has really kept me occupied more than I anticipated.  If you’ve followed my instagram, you know that this spring I went on a very fruitful trip to the island of Kauai (both literally and figuratively) and when I returned I was hoping to soon share what came out of that visually stunning trip, but not only did I have some pretty ambitious plans for some of the material, I also promptly came down with some heavy-duty illness as soon as I returned, which lasted a few months, and unsurprisingly rather hampered my productivity.  But now summer is here.  Yes, and almost half over, but also still here, too.   And good things are beginning to materialize.

First of all, though I am still chipping away at my plans for some of the Hawaii imagery and plan to dedicate a newsletter solely focused on what came out of that trip, (which will hopefully involve at least one or two new print releases,) in the meantime I actually have another new work to share:  “Iridescent Forest”, seen above, came about unexpectedly as I was developing some new processing techniques, and was too excited about the results and how this image turned out to not share it right away.   Taken at Watershed park in Surrey on one of my many forest walks there, the way the layers of colour inversions augment the light and depth of the scene really help capture the feeling of deep magic I feel when I’m in my favourite forest places.

In other, even more exciting news:  I’ve often talked about resuming work on my “robot bear” conceptual photo series, with delay after delay threatening to render the whole endeavour into a load of hot air, but FINALLY things are falling into place so the process can begin this month.  First, I now have all the material I need to properly repair and refinish the now-deteriorated sculpture, and secondly I finally have secured a workshop space large enough to do the necessary work.  This project is very dear to me as it is the beginning of my journey into conceptual and staged photography work, which is definitely where my journey with photography is ultimately headed.   Along with this, I’m aiming to document the process which brings me to the next development- working on my Youtube presence.   I’ve mostly avoided it until now, but projects like this are the perfect motivation to channel some creative juices down that particular vein.  So if you didn’t mind that gross analogy, you can look forward to more offerings in that space.

As always, thanks so much for being a part of Life is Art,
-James