Berkeley Public Library
2090 Kittredge Street
Berkeley, CA 94704

Press Release
Contact: Michele McKenzie — phone: 510-981-6241
For Immediate Release
For an exhibit February 14th – April 30th, 2011

PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT

Jazz Moments
The Photography of James Knox

Bay Area photographer, James Knox, exhibits color and black and white photographs from his series “Jazz Moments” in Berkeley Public Library’s Central Catalog Lobby, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck, downtown Berkeley, from February 14th through April 30th. Knox’s photographs capture exceptional moments from live performances of contemporary jazz artists in the Bay Area. Access to the exhibit is available during the library’s open hours: Monday 12 – 8; Tuesday 10- 8; Wednesday – Saturday, 10 – 6; Sunday 1 – 5.

Knox was inspired to photograph and write about the San Francisco Bay Area jazz scene after attending the Monterey Jazz Festival for the first time in 2002. His photographs have been featured in the SF Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition, and album covers and for local and national jazz musicians. His jazz photography has been exhibited at the San Francisco Main Public Library (2007), The Jazzschool in Berkeley (2008), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose (2010) for Jazz Appreciation Month and San Leandro Public Library (2010.) Knox’s writing has been featured online on Jazz Review and Blogcritics.

In 2010, James received 2nd place and merit awards for his photo submissions in the Oakland Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Destination Oakland Photo Contest.

James Knox will discuss his work during a FREE artist’s reception on Saturday afternoon, February 26th, at 2:00 pm in the 1st floor Catalog of the Central Library.

Wheelchair accessible. Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

For more information, call 510-981-6100 or connect www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org.

Photograph of Esperenza Spalding at Monterey Jazz Festival 2009 by James Knox

From Drop Box

In June, I took a travel photography course at the Berkeley Public Library. The original focus of the class was travel photography but it became more of a photography 101 course which better served the needs of the students. I took this course for two reasons: You can always learn something new and to support a friend whom I encouraged to take the course. We met for four Saturdays in June and it was a very imformative class. I was able to learn new ways of using my DSLR (digital single lens relflex) as well as my point and shoot cameras.

The photo mosiac above was created using Picasa. After our third class, we went to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market on a photo stroll. The goal of this assignment was to take photos of things that caught our eye including being able to ask people to take photos of them. It was fun and people were nice about having their photo taken. For our final class, we did show and tell, showing the photos from the previous week’s assignment. In addition, I brought in some of my jazz photography to show the class.

Special thanks to Andrienne Miller, our photography instructor and Michelle McKenzie, Berkeley Public Library Librarian.