My name is Jim Lundgren and I have been passionate about the natural world for my entire life. My first experience behind the lens was at a very early age using a classic Fisher Price camera. As you released the shutter, images of farm scenes whirred by in the viewfinder, the flash bulb rotated around and the top and the yellow wrist strap let you hang onto it with a sense of pride and style. I loved that camera and dragged it all over Yellowstone during one summer vacation, pretending to take photes of the geysers and hot springs. My teenage years found me behind the lens of a 110 Instamatic. Smaller was better and I loved carrying it on all my trips to the southwest. Then came college, a brand new sparkling SLR, a couple of lenses and some events that changed my life.
I left school and packed my bags for a new job at Grand Canyon National Park. I arrived with a trunk full of belongings, a yearning for the future, and my camera. I spent the next year wandering the canyon on my days off, exploring the nooks and crannies below the rim. I packaged up each roll of Kodachrome and ran to the mailbox at the post office every day to see if my slides had returned. I would hold them up to the light by the mailbox, unable to wait until I got back to my apartment. Often I was dissapointed but occasionally I was overwhelmed. By the time I left the canyon and headed to the East Coast to continue my wanderings, I new what I wanted to do with my life. The only question was how.
By divine intervention (or some decent essay writing), I was accepted to Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. Once again I rambled back across the country and arrived on the coast of California on a January evening with another trunk full of belongings and a head full of dreams. After my first day of school, my dreams were gone, my head was spinning, and I spent the next three years trying to regain my balance. My time in Santa Barbara was some of the most difficult and rewarding years of my life. I dove in deeply and immersed myself in the art of photography . In the end, I stood on the stage, held my diploma and marched off, ready to take on the world. Little did I know, my education had just begun.
I spent the next seventeen years learning how to build a business, peddling my images to any publication that would buy them. I made countless mistakes, spent countless nights on the road, countless hours over the lightbox , countless hours in front of the computer, and loved and hated every minute of it. I met, and married, an amazing women who has never stopped believing in me. We were blessed by a son and the three of us became a "triangle family," as described by my son. They may think they are each the corner of a triangle but they are the center of my life, the literal glue that holds me together.
A short time ago, a box arrived from my parents. They knew I collected old cameras and wanted to clear their house. At the bottom on the box, underneath the assorted camera bodies and lenses, I found my toy Fisher Price camera. Next to it was a photograph of me on a sunny summer day in Yellowstone over 40 years ago. They arrived at the very moment I needed them most.The photography world has changed at an amazingly fast rate in the last decade. Some of it for the better and some of it for the worse. As I struggle to find ways to adapt to the constantly changing world, that toy camera and photograph are a constant reminder of the why I wanted to do this in first place. THIS SHOULD BE FUN. So I am not going to continue the heavily scheduled production shoots. I am not going to spend endless hours contacting editors, begging them to feature my works in their publications. I am going to shoot what I want and when I want and share the results with you. So if you want to chat about photography, send me a message. If you have a question or want to share info about locations or technique, ask me. And of course, if you want to hang one of my images on your wall or publish it a book, feel free to purchase it. I still have to make a living of course.
I look forward to hearing from everyone and keep in touch,
Jim Lundgren