With today’s technology, it’s fairly easy for someone to purchase a nice camera and take pretty pictures. Out of the vast number of camera wielding picture takers, an occasional student will emerge. Jim Livingston is a student. He is a student because he learns and grows in his craft every day.
Jim currently has several of his pieces showing at The Kemp Center for The Arts. This show is very special to him because it has resurrected many 
childhood memories. “When I was a kid and I got my first camera I would ride my bike down here, back when it had a library, and would check out every book I could on photography”, Jim recalled, “actually, my first kiss was in the science fiction part of the library.”
Jim started out shooting with film, as everyone did back in the olden days. He recalls using a Pentax until deciding to move to Amarillo and pursue formal studies in digital photography. Then he switched to Canon for a while. This is when he found himself wandering the deserts and canyons of the Texas panhandle, shooting landscapes and night skies. “Being out on a desert landscape can take it’s toll on a camera”, Jim explained. That’s why decided to return to using Pentax. He says that they are sealed up much tighter, preventing dust to enter the camera.
Health problems afforded Jim more time to spend behind the lens. This time led him to shooting desert scapes and night skies. He began spending much of his time in the Palo Duro canyon area. Jim explained that this became a time of healing. The beauty, and task of capturing it, changed his life. Once requiring a cane to assist his walking, he found that he no longer needed it. He found healing in the desert.
Jim still prefers the desert. His favorite subject to photograph is still the sky. However, he doesn’t just point and click. He gazes, he studies, he learns, and he captures. Jim Livingston is a student and a professional. See his exhibit at The Kemp Center through the month of March.
www.facebook.com/jimlivingstonphotography
