One of My Inspirations

April 2, 2012 by James Pratt

Mary Ellen Mark has been a photographer longer than I have been born. She is modest, humble, and an awesome photographer. She doesn’t blog or do much self promotion. She just takes iconic images, over and over again. Simple tools, simple workflow, and images that stand the test of time. In this video she talks about what it takes to make an iconic photo. In her words – emotion.

About James Pratt

I am an Oklahoma based writer, commercial photographer, editorial photographer and adventurer based in Oklahoma City. I love telling stories about people. A motorcycle is my preferred means of travel, and I have over 5,000 hours piloting small airplanes. My editorial photography has been published in hundreds of magazines and my commercial photography has been used by dozens of companies worldwide.

OK Living Cover May 2020

Before the COVID-19 pandemic I toted my white background and lighting gear to Central Electric Cooperative in Stillwater for a cover shoot for Oklahoma Living Magazine. These usually require a fair amount of work, since I have to take an 11′ roll of white paper with me, plus all the gear to hold the paper […]

Oklahoma Living April 2020 Cover and Feature Story

I always love assignments from Oklahoma Living Magazine. Most are centered around people, and I love photographing people. In this case, I was assigned to photograph a story about Gene Rowe, a farmer in southwest Oklahoma. The story was written by Adam Calaway, one of my favorite writers, so I knew it was going to […]

Oklahoma Living Magazine September 2019 Cover

I had fun photographing this cover story for Oklahoma Living Magazine, one of my favorite clients. I took this picture at the beautiful Chickasaw Nation Cultural Center in Sulphur, Oklahoma on a really hot summer day. I had to be careful to keep my models from sweating. It was toasty hot, about 98 degrees outside. […]

Goodnight Farms in Chattanooga Oklahoma

In 2017 I photographed a story about Cody Goodnight, co-owner of Goodnight Farms southwest Oklahoma. The assignment was for Top Producer Magazine, a regular client I work for in the agriculture industry. I photographed Cody and his father, fiancé and employees on their farm in early spring as they were getting ready for the wheat […]

Volunteer Firefighters for Oklahoma Living

I always love photographing real people doing real things. What could be more fun than photographing volunteer firemen? I got that opportunity recently for Oklahoma Living Magazine. My assignment was to photograph firemen from the Coyle and Woodcrest fire departments in Oklahoma. I had the idea to do a split-shot photo that showed both the […]

Rising from the Ashes – for Kansas Agriculture Magazine

During the summer 2017 I took a trip to western Kansas for a long-time client and photographed a couple of stories in the area. For one story I stopped in Clark County and photographed the Ashland Veterinarian Clinic for a story about how the clinic helped local farmers during and after a huge spring prairie […]

Oklahoma Living January 2018 Cover

I traveled to Tulsa to photograph KOTV’s Leanne Taylor for Oklahoma Living’s “Best of Oklahoma” story for the January 2018 edition of the magazine. It was early December and I had to be there at 7 am to scout for a location. We ended up photographing Leanne after her 9 am television show inside the […]

Shawnee Mills for Oklahoma Living Magazine

Had a fun time photographing this story about Shawnee Mills in where else? Shawnee, Oklahoma. I love shooting photos of industrial-type settings and people at work. I worked with one of my favorite writers Hayley Leatherwood on this project. Because of the dust from the flour mill, I had to mount two cameras with lenses […]

Cause for Conservation story for Kansas Agriculture Magazine

I traveled to Garden City, Kansas over the summer to photograph a story about water conservation efforts in the Ogallala Aquifer that covers western Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma. This huge aquifer is slowly being used up by the massive irrigation efforts by farmers in these western states, trying to feed the growing populations of the […]

Virginia McClain for Oklahoma Living Magazine

I love doing portrait photography and had the opportunity to photograph Virginia McClain for Oklahoma Living Magazine cover story. Virginia lives in Luther, not far from my home in Edmond, and was a long-time employee – 41 years – at Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives – parent to Oklahoma Living Magazine. Her father Carl Booher […]

One of My Inspirations

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