Welcome to the James Coffee Studios' image factory.

It was just 10 years ago in 1999 that I began teaching Digital Imaging Basics at the local community college. I recall teaching students that film photography would be around for many years to come...I told them that the film door would gradually close as the demand for film lessened (boy, was I wrong!). For many years we worked with Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2. Students struggled with the concepts of pixels, and PPI and DPI and color spaces and image compression and file size and file types...my how confusing it all was at first.

Then the first DSLRs appeared on the scene...more camera choices...more complexity...larger sensors...bigger file sizes. All the while the Internet was being born...it was thrusting itself further into the public light...was becoming more useful...easier to use. Software and applications were appearing in the "cloud"...the world was shrinking.

This 'image factory' is something that I could not have done in 1999. It is possible now for me to easily share images with others. It is possible for people viewing these images to enjoy them in slideshow format...or as thumbnails...or as single images. These images can be ordered as prints that are not printed just onto paper...but also onto canvas, key chains, mugs, aprons, mousepads, etc. The world of photography has come a long way since 1999 when I purchased my first digital camera (a Casio...640 X 480 pixels...no removable media card).

For me photography is about preserving the moment, documenting the artful and/or the real. At the heart of my photography passion is panoramic photography...long images that capture the moment. I enjoy both horizontal and vertical formats. Over the years I have taught myself to "see" panoramas. When I photograph I always capture three or more photos and then stitch them together into a long vertical or horizontal image. These long images are lush with detail...they are images that you can enjoy either "nose close" or from a more distant viewing point.