James Popovic

James Popovic is solely responsible for our daily tradition of enjoying lunch together as a studio since 1989. As the story goes, our co-founder, Jan, was so concerned at whether James, a skinny bachelor, was eating enough. So, she forced him to have lunch every day, and the tradition stuck.

Although James hasn't gained much weight over the years, he has successfully mastered the art of digital imagery. With more than 25 years of experience in photography combined with his passion for Photoshop, James expertly manipulates digital files and photographs to achieve any desired result. James is grateful to be working for such a forward thinking company citing, “We got into digital imaging very early on and nobody in town can make a product look as good as we can.” James is a specialist in the realm of panoramic photography and can be seen around town capturing special light for spherical QTVR applications and fine art.

James is also a part-time faculty instructor at Lakeland Community College and has been teaching Digital Imaging 2 every Spring semester for the past 16 years. He enjoys the excitement and reactions he gets from his students as they expand their artistic abilities while greatly improving their photographic body of work. The whole process opens up so many doors to creativity, and the possibilities can seem endless.

What do you do during your “5 to 9” (after work)?

I still love photography and if you were to look into or steal my camera bag, the majority of what you would find would be an assortment of wide angle lenses. I tend to absorb, study, and acknowledge the light and environment all around me. I want the viewer to see and feel as much of the time and place as possible in order to really experience the location the image was captured at. It seems like almost every night if I’m not shooting one, I’m on the computer compositing and retouching a 360 degree image. Sometimes I even get to pick up a guitar for a few minutes.

What inspires you?

Musician biographies. Most famous musicians were born into poverty or close to it. How their life’s path brought them to where they ended up, and how the music they created was brought to life is always an amazing story. They will tell you they never really had a choice in doing what they do, and that they were just a channel that the music chose to funnel through. Pick up Keith Richards' "Life", and Buddy Guys’s autobiography.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

Stealth recording concerts and mastering them with amazing audio software on the Mac. I am proud to be one of the best “tapers” in the country.

Winning a NAPP Guru Award. Oh, and attending over a thousand concerts since June 6, 1980.