Kerrick James is an immensely talented adventure and travel photographer who’s been a full-time travel journalist since 1990. Internationally acclaimed for his dynamic, brilliantly composed, technically exquisite images of destination travel locations, architecture, nightlife, sports and wildlife, he’s probably best known for his transcendent landscapes and captivating images of ecotourism. James has traveled all around the world with his cameras, his images have been featured on more than 200 book and magazine covers, and he’s illustrated and written countless feature stories for leading travel publications.
He’s also created a variety of travel-themed books on travel-themed subjects including the famed Route 66, and has taught more than 70 photo workshops in locations ranging from Alaska to Zambia. His favorite assignments are those that take him on active adventures like kayaking, hiking, climbing, and exploring the wild places of the planet. An avid outdoorsman, he’s rafted the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon 15 times, and recently hiked 40 miles in the Alps, always returning with compelling images that document his adventures and help others to share his vision and experiences. He considers the American West and Pacific Rim his home territory and he resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his sons Shane, Royce, and Keanu.
James is an active member of Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), Through Each Other’s Eyes (TEOE), and North American Travel Journalists (NATJA). He teaches photo workshops for Arizona Highways Photoscapes and also for his own company, KJ Photo Safaris.
How did Kerrick James become so passionate about travel that it became the touchstone of his life’s work, and why did he decide to express that over-the-top enthusiasm in visual terms? “I long ago chose travel as my muse,” he recalls, “and it became the prime reason for dedicating my life and my career to photography. Growing up as a voracious reader inspired me to explore this planet, and from my college days on I believed that photography would offer me a lifelong artistic challenge as well as a viable way to study and partake of the world’s beauty and cultures.”
“I still believe in that the power of that challenge,” he continues, and because of my long experience in the field I feel that I’ve never executed my mission better than I do today. I realize I’ve also been lucky to be continually thrilled by the people and places that photography introduced me to. Choosing travel photography (though in truth it seems to have chosen me!) enriched my life in innumerable ways I could scarcely imagine.” The Key? “My life has always been a search for beauty — in nature, in people and in the illuminating slices of time that define and delight us. I’ve never been bored with my choice of travel photography and I don’t think I ever will.”
“My life has always been a search for beauty — in nature, in people and in the illuminating slices of time that define and delight us.”
— Kerrick James
In retrospect it almost seems inevitable that James would blossom into a serious photography enthusiast and later turn pro. Thanks to his father, he grew up in a house chock full of cameras and he carried them while hiking the Sierras and Death Valley throughout his high school days, then studied photography as an art media major at Arizona State University.
“After college I had no real idea of how to make travel photography into a career,” he freely admits, “but I started by shooting for small magazines in the San Francisco Bay Area, slowly picking up tourism clients while roaming the great American West. It took time, all my time, and plenty of sacrifice, but there were many more magazines back then (the ‘80s-‘90s) and stock paid much better. Photography became how I defined myself, so going pro was never in doubt, but then, as now, it takes everything you’ve got to make a decent living at it.”
Kerrick James loved exploring the wilderness and he did so constantly while in high school, always bringing his camera along. That’s when he discovered that photography was also an effective way to bring a taste of nature back to the city. In college, he was exposed to the history of the medium, and to photographers working in a variety of genres, and that’s what spurred him to move beyond his early fascination with traditional landscapes.
During that period he shot black-and-white street images in San Francisco, a series on the towns on the Mexican border, and executed his first big project, ‘Pacific Summer’, a black-and white film vision of the California beach as a public stage. “I long to return to that theme,” he notes wistfully.
James holds a BFA, Bachelor of Fine Arts, in Photography, from Arizona State University, but apart from acquiring a wide-ranging aesthetic background, he doesn’t think that formal education prepared him for making a living in photography.
“I did avidly study the works of the photographic masters including Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, W. Eugene Smith, and Henri Cartier-Bresson” he recalls, “but it was a chance meeting with French travel shooter Bernard Plossu that gave me a jump-start, a literal visual jolt. His poetic black and white images of Mexico, Africa, and my beloved Southwest shot on Kodak Tri-X film really opened my eyes and freed me up to imagine what I could see and create. I owe him a debt of thanks, wherever he may be. American Photographer some years ago called him a ‘troubadour on the horizon,’ a turn of phrase I envied, but which I have always aspired to.”
James has been a working travel journalist for over 30 years, and while he’s best known for his striking images of nature and active adventure subjects like rafting and kayaking, his current travel assignments and personal work blend all of those above genres and more into a distinctive visual mix that characterizes his style.
“Elements of street shooting are very helpful when doing features on say, Portugal or China,” he observes, “and I am always looking for that ‘plus’ element that lifts images above the mere gorgeous documentation of a destination, and evokes a genuine emotional response in the viewer. The fact is, travel journalism requires skill in shooting architecture, portraits on the fly, food, shopping, nightlife, adventure, sports and doing it all with a fine arts flair. I guess that’s a pretty good description of the everlasting challenge that’s inherent in my chosen field!”
In terms of equipment James has been a lifelong Pentax fan. He started shooting back in the days of Kodachrome and Tri-X, then Fujichrome Velvia, etc. using a slew of different 35mm and medium format cameras, all made by Pentax. Many of his 200+ book and magazine covers were shot with hefty Pentax 67 and 67II medium format film cameras, which he dutifully carried even when backpacking and white water rafting.
“I stayed with Pentax when they went digital and I’ve used every major Pentax DSLR while on assignment on six continents,” he proudly notes. “Their gear has always been very rugged and it’s been weather sealed for years, which is essential for the kind of work I do (15 river trips down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, for example). I use Gitzo carbon fiber tripods, Nanuk cases and Naneu backpacks. My current cameras are the Pentax K-1 Mark II, KP, and 645Z, with all of their pro optics, and I’ve never had better image quality at my fingertips. This is truly a golden age for image makers.”
“When shooting landscapes with the Pentax 645Z I always carry my treasured 25mm f/4 prime wide-angle lens. Since it’s no longer offered, my next best choice is the amazingly sharp HD PENTAX-DA 645 28-45mm F4.5 ED AW SR. This wide zoom is roughly equivalent to 22.5-36mm in full frame, and is weather resistant, an invaluable feature for field shooters like me. I also love to use the new HD PENTAX-D FA645 35mm F3.5 AL [IF], which is close to a 28mm equivalent in the full frame format. This lens is much lighter and smaller and it’s great to take along when you’re hiking to a location. Most of my landscapes are shot with these two wide lenses.”
“I shoot the majority of my travel assignment photography with the full-frame Pentax K-1MKII DSLR, and I always carry the bright and super sharp pro-spec PENTAX-D FA 15-30mm F2.8 ED SDM WR and PENTAX-D FA 70-200mm F2.8ED DC AW zooms. I do also pack the new PENTAX-D FA 50mm F1.4 SDM AW to partially fill in the gap between the wide and long zooms. These are AW lenses, all-weather designs, and I’ve shot with them in hard rain, even hail and never had to stop due to equipment issues. I like having zooms with f/2.8 maximum apertures for maximum flexibility in low light and don’t mind the weight and size penalty. However, I should mention that I’ve made fine salable images at ISO 25,600 with the K-1 MKII. Positively amazing!”
How does James decide which of his Pentax cameras to use? It largely depends on the subject and the shooting conditions. For landscapes, architecture and cityscapes, he usually opts for the Pentax 645Z.
“To me it’s easily the best landscape/field camera I’ve ever used. The combination of extremely high image quality, a rugged weather-sealed body and lenses, great ergonomics, and a superb optical range are exceptional. I’ve carried my 645Z and six lenses from 25-160mm over forty miles in the Swiss Alps, down the river in the Grand Canyon, and across Patagonia, New Zealand, Scotland, and the weight is more than worth the wonderfully detailed images I bring home. When I’m working faster or lighter on location, I take the full-frame K-1 MKII and the Pentax KP, which has an APS-C –format sensor, plus lenses from 15-450mm. From baseball to wildlife, kayaking in Emerald Cave, to walking the streets of Grenoble, I choose the precise lenses suited for the story photo ops I expect to encounter. Experience helps when prepping for every shoot, especially on international trips!”
James has received numerous photography awards from Society of American Travel Writers (SATW), North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA), and several additional writing awards. Since 2007 he’s been a proud Imaging Ambassador for Ricoh-Pentax, and he tests all their pro gear on actual assignments in the field, and was also profiled in Outdoor Photographer in 2015. His outstanding images have graced the pages of Nat. Geo Adventures, Nat Geo Books, Virtuoso Life, Outdoor Photographer, Sunset, Arizona Highways, VIA, Westways, and EnCompass.
“Over the years I’ve often gone to a distant place purely on the strength or allure of just one image I couldn’t forget. That’s what I want my photography to achieve.”
— Kerrick James
“I believe I’m known for my effective use of light, for discovering new locations and unique perspectives, and for capturing beauty — all of which I hope contribute to images with that indefinable ‘Wow Factor,” he says. “People won’t read my (or any writer’s) words unless the images draw their attention — that’s just a fact of life now. While I always look for lovely light, telling gestures and the sense of a moment in my travel work, if it doesn’t all come together to trigger an emotional kick in the viewer, I’ve failed in my mission. I always look to have fun, to satisfy my curiosity, to learn about the place and its people, to make images that are respectful and make others want to journey there as well. Over the years I’ve often gone to a distant place purely on the strength or allure of just one image I couldn’t forget. That’s what I want my photography to achieve.”
“I’ve been leading photo workshops all over the world, and I still get great joy in watching people begin to see more acutely and plan their images, instead of scatter shooting and missing the creative heart of the session,” he notes. “I also love telling stories through pictures and words, and I’m now doing much more writing on assignment because magazines now prefer to assign and pay one person who can do it all at a high level, which is a much greater challenge than just shooting the action. I’ve written and shot cover stories on cruising in Portugal, China, Iceland, the Galapagos, and recently wrote a 1500 word piece on the 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park, one of my top five places on the planet. Travel photography encompasses every possible subject, in time, so for me nearly every genre is involved, except armed conflict. When I show up to shoot a story I typically get lots of local cooperation and I have tremendous respect for our news photography brethren that paved the way.”
“It’s a storyteller’s life but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
— Kerrick James
“Ask any creative person and most will say that every few years they need to recreate, remake, rethink themselves and what they do. For me that epiphany came when I started to teach photo workshops,” he adds. “It forced me to describe and share what I had always internalized (assessing the light, location, people, timing, etc.), and that was an eye-opening experience that made me a better shooter. While I’ve always written occasional travel stories for publications writing one or two a month as I do now is a very different proposition. But change is part of life, and I’m grateful to be able to write and illustrate travel features because that’s what has helped me to thrive while being paid to experience Iceland, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Portugal, Barbados, China, etc. It’s a storyteller’s life but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
To find out more about Kerrick James and see more of his work, check out his website kerrickjames.com, and his photo safaris, follow him on Instagram @kerrickjames5, or on Facebook.com/kerrick.james.5.
