Jim Cummins
Jim Cummins is an award-winning American photojournalist whose work is well-known from the many photographs he has taken of legendary rock, rhythm and blues, soul, jazz, country/western and gospel performers of the 1960's through the early 1980's. Over 900 music albums from that era, many of which went Gold, Platinum and Diamond, used Jim's photographs as their album covers. Many of his other photographs of legendary performers of that era were published as magazine covers and in feature articles in magazines such as Newsweek, Rolling Stone and Life Magazine. Two of Jim's album covers won Album Cover of The Year awards, and Jim's photograph for the cover of the groundbreaking November, 1967 issue of Newsweek Magazine, devoted to the civil rights issues confronting America during the 1960s, won the National Magazine Award.
Born in 1944 in New York City, Jim attended New York City's High School of Music & Art and studied art, drawing and painting at the New York City's Museum of Modern Art, at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and at the Art Students League of New York.
Jim began his career as a photojournalist working for Newsweek Magazine from 1965 through 1970. During that period, Jim also worked for almost all of the major music labels, including Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, Capitol Records, Mercury Records, Savoy Records, Springboard Records, and London Records. Jim has also been a staff photographer for the NBA, Black Enterprise Magazine, the New York Times and Newsday.
The Music Album Covers Years
From 1968 through the the early 1980's over 900 albums recorded by many of the biggest name performers of that era and produced by Atlantic Records, Columbia Records, Capitol Records, Mercury Records, Savoy Records, Springboard Records, and London Records, used Jim's photographs for their album covers. Jim has provided the album cover photography for music legends including: Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Aretha Franklin, The Who, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Chuck Berry, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, James Brown, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Sly and The family Stone, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Velvet Underground, The Doors, Joe Cocker, Dr. John, Buddy Miles, Burt Bachrach, Glen Campbell, Madonna, The Rascals, Roberta Flack, Joe Cocker, Dusty Springfield, Nancy Wilson, Laura Nyro, John Sebastian and Jimmy Page, among many others.
Jim has co-authored and been the photographer for several books including "Led Zeppelin II", "Led Zeppelin: Good Times, Bad Times", "Courtside - The Fans Guide To Pro Basketball", and "Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child of The Aquarian Age." Jim has taught photojournalism at Seton Hall University and at John Jay College and continues to be a pioneer in the field of photojournalism, bringing his exceptional sense of style and photo composition to the world of digital photography.
Info
The Jim Cummins Collection
Image Fortress Corporation
3 Cherrywood Circle
Andover MA 01810