Ask Jim Lennon the key to his success as a commercial and art photographer for over 40 years and the answer is clear: lighting.

Whether capturing a dramatic, giving sky at the beach down the road from his house in Flanders — where he has lived since 1983 — or running a 20-person crew on-location at Jones Beach or Montauk for a national ad campaign, or creating a product shot that makes you go, “I want that now,” Lennon knows the power of lighting.

“Lighting is really understanding and being comfortable in knowing how to use and manipulate lighting and not being afraid to experiment,” says Lennon. “One of the things that I love the most that people will say to me is that they don’t think I light stuff … I light everything. And if I don’t have to light it, it’s because I’ve calculated when I have to be there for the right light.”

Lennon also has a great eye, has learned his craft and paid his dues — exuding an infectious passion for life, the environment, his work and the collaborative process with clients.

“I love my job — I’m not a slave to it, but I’m always working … you set a target, you build it and along the way everybody gets excited about it,” he says.

A self-described “people person” who loves the landscape, Lennon has photographed thousands of people, places and products, both in the studio and on-location. His corporate clients and commercial work range from portrait photography to large advertising campaigns on the regional and national level.

Jim LennonCourtesy Jim Lennon

When COVID first hit, he used the unfamiliar downtime to produce a stunning, self-published book of his personal photography titled The Shoreline, featuring 196 pages of coastal scenes he took along the shores from Manhattan to Montauk.

It’s hard to imagine Jim Lennon living too far from any shoreline.

Born in Oceanside, his family came out east when he was young, first to a summer home and then moving to Flanders in 1978. Lennon says he quickly “gravitated to the people out here and the place itself” thanks to newfound friendships that felt more down-to-earth.

“We had water, we had beaches … you were allowed to roam within the size of Rhode Island … horses, mini bikes, go-karts, bows and arrows, rifles — that kind of stuff didn’t even exist in Oceanside,” he adds.

It seems Lennon was always destined to record and preserve the exquisite moments.

“I won a national award from Kodak (for a landscape) in high …….

Source: https://www.danspapers.com/2021/12/jim-lennon-the-shoreline-book-photography/