[ July 15, 2002 ]   At age 16 Jim Herrington landed his first paying photography job shooting the 1960s soap diva Eileen Fulton of As the World Turns. The assignment wasn’t in Oakdale, U.S.A., where the daytime drama is filmed, but in Herrington's hometown of Salisbury, North Carolina, where Fulton had come to be the guest of honor at the opening of an appliance store. "I couldn’t believe someone paid me to take a picture," says Herrington. "I knew things would get better for me," he says, "and for her."

And they did, too. At age 38 Herrington has shot more than 100 celebrities, including The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Dolly Parton. His assignments for Esquire, Vanity Fair, The Oxford American, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, RCA, Sony, and Virgin Dreamworks have taken him around the world. Having honed his craft assisting the likes of Moshe Brakha, Greg Gorman and Matthew Rolson, Herrington spent time working with Tom Consilvio, who was Garry Winnogrand's master printer, developing thousands of unprocessed film rolls after his death for a Winnogrand retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art. "It was fantastic considering I was a big fan of Winnogrand's work," says Herrington.

Herrington's seemingly charmed career wasn't without its soap opera twists and developments. In the early 80s, after several failed attempts at college, he packed up his VW van and drove west across the country leaving his grieving mother to come to terms with her divorce. Herrington arrived in Hollywood with no place to stay and only $20 dollars in his pocket, having spent most of his budget on a blown engine two days into the trip. His first job was as a late night telephone huckster trying to solicit audience members to preview new films and commercials at the Preview House Theater in Hollywood. "My co-workers, 35 pimps and prostitutes, and myself, worked until two a.m.," he says. Herrington then met Consilvio and began assisting him. On the side he was shooting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and over the course of two years the ball finally started rolling

It was during his California years that Herrington developed a passion for mountain and rock climbing, spending time in the Sierra Nevada, Joshua Tree, and Tahuitz. In the early 90's he left Los Angeles to live for two years in New York City, and six months in Berlin. He then landed in Nashville, which is where he started to shoot legends of American mountaineering. Although the subject matter is people, his approach is slightly different, "When you are 300 feet above the ground on a one-and-a-half-foot ledge, it's about the climbing. I use my Leica camera and you really don't have much choice; you take what you can get."

In 2001, Herrington's world turned once again. He left Nashville to live in Milwaukee with his ballerina girlfriend, Alisha Murray of the Milwaukee Ballet. Altpick.com spoke to Herrington in his Milwaukee studio.

How did you get started?
The power of black and white photography moved me as a kid, whether it was the images I saw in my family's 1950's era Encyclopedia Britannica, old movies, or the old Life Magazines my father collected. I liked the story telling mixed with strong graphics that photography could achieve, the documentary aspect that is unique to photography coupled with the individual eye of the one behind the camera. Photography felt comfortable and natural to me, a way to harness and come to terms with the world around me, which I was very curious about.

What would you say is the most controversial piece that you’ve done?
The cover of Oxford American's annual music issue last year. It was empty controversy if you ask me. I shot Dolly Parton for the music issue cover before, which was very successful so they called me again and said, "We want just a pretty girl, we want it to say 'south, pretty girl and music.'" I found a southern looking house in New Jersey, of all places, and shot a woman with simple 40's dress and the trombone. Oxford American loved the picture and once the issue was released the letters started pouring in about the sexual placement of the trombone. Her legs were slightly spread and the trombone was resting between them as if she had just been playing it. Oxford American got more responses to the cover than ever before, many people canceling their subscriptions. The irony is that I had worked to tone down the sexual overtones so it wouldn’t resemble a Maxim cover.

Your shot list is quite extensive and impressive. What is the oddest thing you’ve had to do to pull someone out?
Just recently I was in Los Angeles shooting a Russian band whose lead singer is notorious for being a diva with an extremely bad attitude, particularly towards photographers. I started talking to her before we started taking pictures and sure enough she just wasn't giving me anything and I was trying to be nice. So I started to throw attitude back at her 10 times stronger than what she was giving me and sure enough she opened right up. Generally, I think you’ve got to get the energy up if people are really uptight. I think it is like setting off a bomb and you have to distract them from their distractions. I tend to use humor a lot.

Did you have a mentor?
I don't think I could just pick one person; there were many people who rubbed off on me in a big way: Tom Consilvio, who was Garry Winogrand's printer, and kind of a cranky Boston guy, who I worked with developing many of Winogrand's prints after he died. Tom killed himself and I haven't been in the dark room once in 20 years when I haven't thought of him. He said some really wonderful things and he probably didn’t realize how much I would remember some of the things he said.

What was the toughest lesson you’ve learned?
There is no turning back the clock, that was a tough lesson. I missed so many opportunities by not being in the moment and acting on the opportunity when it’s given to you. Out of all the climbers I've shot no one was more important to me to shoot than Warren Harding, and I didn't get to him before he died and there is no way of getting to him now, you know?

How would you describe your philosophy towards the work?
Empathy.

Where do you see yourself in five years?
Smarter, faster, stronger, better, happier, more streamlined in my approach. Perhaps have a book out, and some more shows under my belt. Spending more time doing what I like and less time doing what others want me to do.

- Contributed by Mary Beth Holland

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