Some pictures shout, LOOK AT ME! Others imply questions rather than answers pulling you in more deeply. What is the hidden meaning in the subtle features of a human face? Are timeless stories told in the interactions people have with others and their surroundings? Are the things we build on the land a deeper expression of our values and culture? These are the kinds of questions that drive my photography—questions about humanity. My photographs are one person’s way of seeing the world but I hope for more. I hope that viewers will find their own meaning as they think and react emotionally to what they see. My greatest satisfaction is when the viewer engages with the picture as if it were their own story. I photograph people and culture: who they are and how they live.
I was born in Chicago and live in Portland Oregon in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I have always liked photographing since my first camera, a cheap plastic film camera with light leaks. I became a more serious photographer while in college with a much better 35mm camera and my basement darkroom, and have continued to pursue photography as a passion into the digital age. After some years of indecision, I completed a PhD in organizational psychology and then worked as a social scientist trying to understand how human nature plays out in social systems and applying these lessons to organizations and their effectiveness. The symbiotic relationship between people and their social and physical environments is a theme in my work.
Jim Kushman.
Oregon Society of Artists, How It Looks From Here: A Photography Showcase, October 2021, Portland, Oregon, Honorable Mention Award
PhotoPlace Gallery, Travel: Faces and Places, November 2018, Middlebury, Vermont
Blank Wall Gallery, Street Photography, January 2018, Athens, Greece
Southeast Center for Photography, Landscape, Grand or Personal, September 2017, Greenville, South Carolina
LightBox Photographic Gallery, PDX30 Best Photographers , April 2017, Astoria, Oregon
Black Box Gallery, Portraiture: Photography Now, on-line exhibitions; September 2016; August 2015, Portland, Oregon
Newspace Center for Photography, Members’ Salons; October 2015, 2014, 2013, Portland, Oregon
Concordia University, Libraries’ Art and Culture Program, Uniquely Oregon: A Visual Exploration, July 2015, Portland, Oregon
Light Box Photographic Gallery, Forty Portland Photographers, April 2014, Portland, Oregon
Black Box Gallery, Journeys: Travel Photography, December 2013, Portland, Oregon