About the artist:

James Porto was born in 1960 in Saudi Arabia to an Italian American father and Belgian mother. He began photographing at age eleven and, as a teen, documented the desert community of the Aramco Oil Company and discovered a passion in experimental printing. He received a BS in Professional Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1982 and moved to New York City, where he established a studio on Franklin Street in 1985. The photographs are sumptuously rich in texture and detail, multi-layered and thought-provoking, and are designed to challenge the viewers sense of reality. In his earlier work, James used elaborate darkroom and in-camera processes to assemble his photographs and in 1992 pioneered the use of digital tools. Working as both a photographer and retoucher, James takes responsibility for every facet of the process, from pre-production to final delivery of files, resulting in a singular vision. He works collaboratively with art directors, editors and designers to create images tailored to their specifications whether it’s the immediate read of an advertising concept or a haunting illustration of an editorial theme. James is a restless experimenter with light, a problem solver who loves a challenge, a focused, engaged director of talent and an energetic, enthusiastic, conceptual thinker. Advertising Clients / Absolut, Adidas, American Express, AT&T Bell Helicopters, Blue Man Group, Epson, IBM Ilford, Kodak, Lockheed, Motorola, Nike, Pepsi, Radio City Rockettes, Reebok, Seagrams, Sony, Texas Instruments, Verizon. Editorial Clients / American Photo, Business Week, ESPN, Fortune, Forbes, Glamour, GQ, New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, New York, Photo Italia, Rolling Stone. Scientific American. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, Time, and Wired