JIM GAVENUS - Photographer - Storyteller - Teacher

Jim Gavenus is an award-winning, internationally recognized editorial photographer. Witnessing the beauty and heartache of the world first hand, his intimate images and poignant storytelling are evidence of our time.  His projects focusing on the human condition, social injustice and civil rights have won him numerous awards, including the Gordon Parks Documentary Photographer of the Year Award.

His work in the music industry appears for Sony Music, Columbia Records, Lost Highway Records, Merlefest, Farm Aid and numerous publications.  His work was featured on the 55th Annual Grammy Awards and can be found in the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame.  He routinely works with studios, magazines, festivals and numerous Hall of Fame musicians.

Gavenus has exhibited his work in galleries and museums around the world and is represented in the permanent collections of the Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, Florida, The Gordon Parks Center of Photography, Fort Scott, Kansas, The New York Historical Society, New York, New York and Mother Jones, San Francisco, California.  The National Voting Rights Museum, Selma, Alabama, prominently displays more than 50 of his images documenting the history of The Selma to Montgomery March and Bloody Sunday.

Previous works include, Faces of Haiti, Southern Accents (The rural South) The Blues (Mississippi: music and juke joints), Beyond the Chutes: Rodeo Life, On the Streets/Homeless and Near Death: A Celebration of Life.  

His ability to capture the personality of the subject stems from his dedication and sincere interest to know them and tell their story.  He is patient in his approach and has said “the experience of making the image and getting to know my subject is as important as the image itself.  The image is one brief moment in time that others see.  My job is to capture what I have learned in all my time with that individual in that split second.”

He takes the same professional approach whether he is photographing a Hall of Fame musician, the President of the United States, the local barber, a wedding or senior portrait. It is the process and connection he makes with his clients that fuels his spirit to make images.

He lives in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania, teaches photography at Luzerne County Community College (Nanticoke, Pennsylvania), lectures, exhibits and works throughout the United States.