Christopher James

Most people can understand how teachers inspire, or can be your worst nightmare. I've everything had under the sun when it came to teachers. College was great for me, and I learned a lot. I met a lot of great people, but if I think of my overall college experience.....well I wouldn't call it paradise. But we can talk about all that another time.

One of the few shining moments however, was when I took a class with Christopher James. One of the best classes that I had the WHOLE time I was in school was when Christopher had a class where he talked about his work and showed us some of his images, and the stories behind them. My personal favorites were his stories about India, and the people he met there.

The image that I think inspired me later on in my own work later on (perhaps in the back of my mind somewhere) was the one of the "Dying man" a man at the moment of death (Above). The image seemed more real to me then most I had seen all through school. It had has this sort of otherworldly feel to it. He worked with the smoke to give it that otherworldly feel, and I hope that I was also able to do it when I was taking photographs of my Dad a couple of years later. (The color to the right).

You can see his other work at www.christopherjames-studio.com