Meet Nathan James aka “The Photo Papí”, we took a trip to Los Angeles to catch up with the artist and he filled us in on everything he has going on. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado before making his home LA in 2017. But before that he took his talents to Wyoming on a full ride scholarship for basketball. One could consider what happened in Wyoming a blessing in disguise; he underwent 2 knee surgeries which kept him sidelined and that’s when he started investing his time into art. But it wasn’t photography, Nathan took a liking to painting & customizing sneakers which led to painting on women...and well how do you show off all the work, that’s right by taking “photos” of it. His mother, who is an art teacher as well as an artist herself happened to send him a camera. Little did she know it would lead Nathan to become one of the biggest photographers in the world. While painting and dabbling in photography, he also took on a role of managing different artist but that didn’t last long because it held him back from being creative. It wasn’t until 2019 which he calls his “rookie year” where he invested all of his time solely into the art of photography. One of his most iconic photos which came early in his career was a photo of Post Malone (see below) which sparked a buzz as Post was the biggest new artist at the time. Today you will still find Nathan collaborating with heavyweight artist like The Game, Trippie Red, and Tory Lanez. But he didn’t want to stop there, he is now stepping into the field of music himself. Months after his solo gallery “Nightmares” Nathan has decided to release a song for each piece. Follow him on his journey here and tune in for his 1st song that drops tonight! 2/20/20 9pm
Photo by Nathan James circa 2015
INTERVIEW
What inspired you?
I was inspired by the passion & excitement that photography gave me. The process of not having everything planned out, and the fact that photography could take you to places & put you in doors you couldn’t get in without it. Another component of inspiration is being able to create myself, knowing you created something or did something creative is a great feeling.
What advice do you have for aspiring artist?
One thing I ALWAYS tell people is make sure you are passionate about whatever you are pursuing. And if you have the passion, you have to work hard & stay consistent. If you have passion, good work ethic and consistent that’s a dangerous combination.
