Rising Stars: Meet James Lock

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Lock.

James, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a San Diego-raised and Nashville-based writer and photographer. I got my start in photography before moving from San Diego to attend college in Chicago. I wanted to document my life on the west coast. I started shooting real estate when I first moved to Nashville and I’ve been able to expand my work to capture environments and tell humanizing stories with my photos and writing.

I have an undergraduate degree in English Literature and my photographic work has been exhibited in SCAD Open Studio in Savannah, Georgia in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been a long road and I still feel like I’m growing and evolving; It’s a constant process. I struggled a lot with comparing my work to other photographers and artists. I still struggle sometimes with comparisons, but I think I’ve been able to grow and value my work as a unique and valid extension of myself.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
As a photographer, I am interested in capturing environments and telling humanizing stories with my photos and writing. My goal is to testify to the beauty, inspiration, and strength of humanity in the face of hostility and great obstacles. Much of my work documents these stories of people in the natural world whether it’s in the mountains or in the sea. There may never be a more fitting and simultaneously cliché metaphor for overcoming obstacles than climbing glacier-covered peaks or surfing uncharted breaks. It’s in these humbling environments that our resilience and perseverance become more amplified.

I return to the same locations and the same people to take photos. I believe that returning to the same location with an open mind allows my views on that space to be revised. It allows that space to speak to me. The author George Saunders believes revision in his work is an act of love that allows his characters to speak, giving them a voice and agency. I believe revisiting a single location or a human subject is also a revision and allows them to have a fuller voice as my view or understanding is revised in my work. And like Martin Buber, I believe that where will and grace are joined, as I contemplate the spaces and people in my photos, I am drawn into a relation – the subject ceases to be an object.

I choose to capture beauty and strength in those with whom I may not normally interact. Moving across the United States growing up has exposed me to many different perspectives – many of which I don’t agree with. Yet my work comes from a desire to love, understand, and find out what makes everyone human. I feel it is my responsibility to present an alternate storyline contrary to the divisive rhetoric prevalent today.

The natural beauty and simple ornamentation of the people and landscapes I portray act as a resistance to an increasingly technological, complicated, and impersonal society.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love the creative energy of the city. I think there’s an incredibly strong creative and artistic community here. Sometimes it feels like the visual arts are eclipsed by the music industry, but I think the art community is growing and there is already a large pool of talent here.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.jameslockphotography.com
• Instagram: @jamesscottlock