Born in 1970, James grew up in Sheffield, UK. During university years, he started to lay the foundations of a career in music. First playing in bands, and learning to record with primitive equipment, he went on to become a composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer and mastering engineer. His musical output spans electronica (Mindfeel, mid-90s), classical music, rock, and post-punk (synthesisers in Artery, 2011-13). He has written many soundtracks for film and video.

James first flirted with photography in the 1980s, whilst still at school. Back then he was using cheap analogue film and a budget (but robust) Zenit SLR. Whatever fascination had been kindled in those early years gradually came out of dormancy around 2010; by 2016 photography had become a true passion.

From there, two distinct genres of photography have emerged: Lightscapes and Landscapes.

Lightscapes are atmospheric, mainly nocturnal explorations of James’ native city of Sheffield. He is drawn to stillness, space and silence.

The Landscape work presented here can perhaps be thought of as the other side of the coin; mainly conceived as monochromes, the fascination is for unusual atmospheres, with a slight sense of the surreal or the gothic.

James values minimalism in photography; whilst it is not strictly the case that his photography falls within that genre, he nonetheless strives to strip away all that is unnecessary from an image.