When Jack London had his portrait made by the noted San Francisco photographer Arnold Genthe, London began the encounter with effusive praise for the photographic art of his friend and fellow bohemian, Genthe. "You must have a wonderful camera...It must be the best camera in the world...You must show me your camera.” Genthe then used his standard studio camera to make what has since become a classic picture of Jack London. When the sitting was finished, Genthe could not contain himself: "I have read your books, Jack, and I think they are important works of art. You must have a wonderful typewriter." ~ From the many files of James R. Dean

      Deep in the woods of Avon, MN, lives an architect, a photo documentarian and dreamer. These three different personalities intertwine to make the 54-year-old body and soul of James R. Dean. Few people have seen and accomplished what Dean has. He’s lived everywhere from a frat house at North Dakota State University to a Volkswagen bus in Europe and northern Africa. He designed a neighborhood of houses in Avon and took pictures looking down on the now destroyed World Trade Center. Dean’s photographs are published in seven books, eight calendars and displayed in 53 separate exhibitions during 26-year-span. Dean’s passion for photography is unique, yet undeniable. He takes pictures to give future viewers a taste of how the world was when he froze time with his camera.
      Dean is rarely, if ever, seen without a camera in his hands. His passion for photography took flight when he was in elementary school and received his first camera -—a Kodak Brownie. In college he graduated to the 35mm camera and took his one and only photo class, where he learned how to develop film, do a print and use Spotone; the same camera and print techniques he still uses 34 years later.
      After graduating from NDSU, Dean traveled around Europe and northern Africa and took his camera with him.
      “I took a lot of pictures while traveling, and I started really thinking about photography and started collecting old pictures. It amazes me how different things were 50 and 100 years ago, yet here is this picture that captured something so long ago,” Dean said.

James Dean Continued..........

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