James Simmons

When my vision needs to be translated to print, Gold Fibre Silk meets and exceeds my expectations. I love the fact that my fine art inkjet prints look like I have spent hours in a darkroom. The tonal range is outstanding.

James’ Imagery recounts his experience with the world around him. Taking inspiration from places he visits and people he meets, James creates images bases on the stories, mood and emotion he experiences first hand, often telling stories of people and their relationship to the landscape or build environment.

James Simmons has been awarded some of the country’s highest accolades for his fine art photography, illustrative work and wedding photography. James, based in Perth, Australia, works as a commercial photographer and specialises in fine art wedding photography. James’ work also includes training and teaching techniques and theory to emerging photographers at Edith Cowan University.

“Passing on good quality information to others is a passion of mine. Teaching is in my blood, both my parents are teachers and I enjoy telling a good story. I believe these traits flow through into my imagery as I present the viewer with a clear message communicated using simple elements. However, my photographs still hold mystery and intrigue through the medium’s interpretive nature.”

“I enjoy creating scenes that have a relationship between people and the landscape. I often work with relatively mundane locations and try to make them seem intriguing, however it does help to start with an exotic location. Travel is an important part of my creative process as I find getting out of my comfort zone often provokes unusual visions that I end up chasing down.”

“My illustrative technique has developed from studying photojournalism and is inspired by the level of engagement that is required with your subject. The need to tell a story is paramount and capturing all the photographic elements is challenging.” “I am fascinated with the lead shot in an assignment, as it needs to encapsulate the entire story in one image. I think deep down that became a bit of an obsession, to be able to tell an entire story in one image. The thought of capturing iconic images excites me.”

“While my images are not hard hitting photojournalism, they do have elements of factual information, the image is my interpretation of a story and place and I do leave some interpretation to the viewer. For me it’s a mix of decisive moments,  story telling and story construction.”