James was born in Philadelphia, PA. Shortly after leaving the Abottsford housing projects his parents divorced. His mother, two sisters and James packed the family station wagon and drove north until breaking down in Upstate New York. James' mother, Karen, was a painter, sculptor, photographer and published poet who raised her children to be open and loving to all arts. Elder sister Kathryn has an MFA painting and is museum inducted. Cheryl the youngest sister is also a very talented painter. However, while growing up, James describes himself as an artistic rebel and stayed aloof from the arts until the Christmas of 1985 when his mother and two sisters scrapped all their money together to buy the only present he was to receive that year and that would change the way James would see the world forever. The present was a 35 mm Nikon Nikkormat camera. That very same camera was used to capture 90% of the photographs included in this website.

James' original photographs have appeared in movies like "Fishing in Hell" and in various publications throughout the states. James has also experimented and worked with many other art forms over the years such as painting, sculpting, acting and filmmaking.

James now lives with in Arizona where he continues to make films and take photographs all in the hopes of capturing the "it" of all that is special in each of us and the world we live in.