Josh James
June 21
Where are you from?
Born in Simi valley California & raised in the Pacific northwest in Washington state.
Assuming you started off skateboarding at what point did you move to photography?
I got to a point in my skating where I knew I wasn’t progressing as much as I should have been and I knew I wanted to do something that kept me involved with skateboarding forever so I decided to borrow a DSLR camera from a friend and try to shoot some photos of the homies so I did and after a while of shooting I had realized that I found the love for skateboarding all over again only now I get to see it and experience it from a whole different perspective and it’s so rad. one of the homies said my photos were sick and I should keep shooting and of course I was already loving it and having fun doing it so I stuck to it and here we are a decade later, have accomplished many goals, acquired all the camera gear I’ve ever dreamed of, and have recently had a photo of mine published in thrasher magazine and now I’m honored to be doing my first interview with you guys!
Is there one skateshot you wish you had taken?
All the ones I have missed haha
Proudest moment as a photographer?
honestly seeing my name in thrasher magazine for the first time really had some vibes to it haha
Most embarrassing?
I have a funny story for this one! One time one of my favorite skaters nick Palmquist hit me up when I was long Beach and he wanted to shoot a sequence at a famous tall ledge on the beach in Huntington Beach, at the time I didn’t have a camera capable of shooting a fast enough sequence needed but we gave it a go anyhow and it was quite the embarrassing experience haha, he was trying a frontside noseslide 270 out and because my camera was to slow we tried to shoot the trick in a particular way and let’s just say it didn’t work out haha I was bummed cause nick Palmquist I kne of my favorite skaters and I knew had I definitely just blown the opportunity shooting with him for the first time haha much love to you nick!
What gear are you shooting with?
I shoot with a full frame canon 5D mark IV. 2 neewer AD360 witstro flashes. A canon 70-200mm 2.8 L series, canon 50mm 1.2 L series and the ole trusty canon 8-15mm L series fisheye all packed up in a Bravo Co World Wide camera bag!
Is there any post-production you do? If so how far do you go?
To be honest and I almost hate to admit this but, I have not gotten into post production yet, I just edit my photos up with Adobe lightroom on my phone. It works so I continue to work with it haha when I do edit, I tend to try to keep my photos as natural as possible though.
What is on your wishlist?
Honestly, I just wish to continue accomplishing goals and continue to keep shooting photos as much as possible and have fun doing so!
Last question. If you could interview one person, who would it be and why?
Oh man,That’s a tough one! I’d probably just interview one of the photographers I look up to because It would be so inspiring to do so! For example the photographer I look up to is jake darwen. his photos are constantly inspiring!
