James "unpunk"

Favorite Haunts: Palm Beach

James "unpunk" grew up in the rough and tumble Northern California punk rock scene. Drinking, fighting and causing general mayhem was his way of life. After several years of this downwardly spiraling lifestyle, he had had enough. James admits, "I was wrong. Fortunately, I was able to distance myself from the negativity. Do I have regrets? Yes. Am I ashamed of my past life? Hell, no! I think my background allows me to draw on the inspiration from the grit and angst of my past. I want my work real. I want the viewer to see themselves in the shot."

James went back to college and graduated with honors in Management and Marketing. In 2004, he and his wife relocated to Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where his love for photography was rekindled. "I love to shoot. I can't go anywhere without thinking about how I would graphically present the situation in a picture. I crave detail... things people miss in day to day life. I find that the sum of the parts are MUCH greater and infinitely more interesting."

People always ask, "Where did you get the name Unpunk?" It started in the early 90's when James was tour managing Central California based punk bands and promoting punk shows. "All the kids were trying to be "more punk" than their friends and I got tried of hearing about it. I thought to myself, what is more punk than being "unpunk"? Jokingly, I chose it as my email address back in 1992 and the name stuck."

Unpunk's work can be seen in several websites, national magazines ads and currently being used for advertising in an internationally known surfboard company.