Lockdown Q&A - James Bowden

4.5.2020 | Tags: lockdown q&a, James Bowden

We have a quick chat with James Bowden in the latest installment of Lockdown Q&A.

Who is your favourite photographer, historical or contemporary or both and why?
The Photographer who inspire me change all the time, I think as my personal work evolves and changes so do the people I look up too. Currently the person who is inspiring me the most is Icelandic photographer Ragnar Axelsson. His stark black and white imagery of the arctic, explores the relationship between humans and nature in areas of such harsh climatic extremes, I find it fascinating. 

Why did you take up photography as a career initially and how did you get your first break into the business?
I started taking photography seriously when I started to travel a lot after college. I was pretty focused on finding the best surf I could, but I also started taking an interest in taking photos of the lifestyle I was living at the time, the people we met and the places the search for surf would take us too. I started submitting photos to a few magazines here and there, started posting my photos on a blog, and sending emails out etc. Eventually the founder of a small clothing brand invited me to shoot for them… I guess that was the start of thinking perhaps I could make a career out of this.

If you had to have one, what would be your favourite photograph that you have taken and why? Personal or commercial is fine.
It changes all the time, but I look at this photo most days. Mountain lake up above the arctic circle in norway. I was on a job, but my wife and I were travelling in the are in our campervan, we rendezvoused  with the crew and had a great week working and sharing special (chilly) moments like this.

If you still enjoy it (and we presume you still do), why do you like being a photographer?
The people you meet and the places it takes you.

If you were going to work in a field of photography other than your own, what would it be?
I’m a bit of a nature geek, so perhaps natural history/wildlife?!...

If you hadn't become a photographer what do you think you might be doing instead?
Before I got my first advertising job, I was actually signed up to a year long wooden boat building course. So I’d like to think, maybe that? - but more likely I would be selling surfboards or something…

See more of James work here.