about Jimm,
Nationally recognized, award-winning portrait photographer and noted author, Jimm Roberts is an Orlando based master photographer with over 30 years experience. His portraits of nationally known artists, writers, and musicians have been widely published in magazines from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Variety, The New Yorker, and Vogue to Smithsonian; International photography editions include the Popular Photography and the U.S. Camera World Annuals. His work has been used on album covers for the original Allman Brothers Band, Livingston Taylor, Allen Toussaint, and Otis Redding; as the author's portrait in books by Ann Beattie, Alison Lurie, John Hersey, James A. Michener, and Thomas McGuane; in exhibition catalogues for artists such as John Chamberlain and Jules Olitski, in Sotheby's and Christie's Contemporary Art Catalogues, New York; on Dateline NBC; in Corporate and Private Collections, as well as Museum Galleries and Libraries in America and abroad.
Clients:
Law firms Including Ackerman, Senterfitt, & Eidson, J. Cheney Mason, Wm. j. Shearer, P.A., James O. Cunningham, P.A., Sun Banks of Florida, Country Club of Orlando, Dr. Phillips Foundation, Junior League of Greater Orlando, Orlando Museum of Art, Dia Art Foundation, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art - Los Angeles, Atlantic Records, MGM Records, Polygram Records, Capricorn Records, Warner Brothers Records, Universal Music Group, Humana Hospitals, South Lake Hospital-Clermont, Florida, Colliers International, Fry| Hammond| Barr, Hill & Knowlton, Hitachi America, Merrill Lynch, Sotheby's Contemporary Art Catalogues-New York, Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art Catalogue-New York, and The 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center, New York.
He is author of the award-winning book and museum exhibition, "Southernmost Art and Literary Portraits", (Mercer University Press), chronicling his intimate portraits and personal interviews with fifty internationally noted artists and writers in Florida, 1983-2003, including; Edward Albee, Ann Beattie, John Chamberlain, Harry Crews, Annie Dillard, Carl Hiaasen, Roy Lichtenstein, John D. MacDonald, James Merrill, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Larry Rivers, the last known portrait of Isaac B. Singer, Syd Solomon, Richard Wilbur, and Joy Williams, among others. In the fall of 2012, the Orlando Museum of Art presented the premiere exhibition of "Southernmost Art and Literary Portraits.
Roberts was awarded The American Spirit of Honor Medal, U.S. Navy, 1961; a Good Citizenship Award, City of Orlando 1975; he has received over two dozen Addy Awards for commercial work, 1972-1985 ; the prestigious Dishinger Award naming Jimm Roberts the Outstanding Classical Portrait Photographer in Florida - Florida Professional Photographers Association, 1977; he is a recipient of an Individual Artist's Grant -Florida Department of State, 1987; a Top Ten Book Award, Foreword Magazine, 2005; the 2005 Gold Award for Best Book of Photography of the Year published by a University Press, - Book Expo America, Washington, D.C.; Roberts' work is included in the American Art Portrait Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., as well as The George Eastman House and International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester, N.Y. 2010. At the Orlando Museum of Art 2012, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer proclaimed September 22nd as "Jimm Roberts' Florida Art and Artists Day" recognizing Roberts' "vibrant contributions to the Orlando community."
Jimm Roberts is a graduate of the U.S. Naval School of Photography and served with Photo-Intelligence during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1961; He holds a BFA Degree in Painting/Art History from the University of Georgia, 1964; Roberts worked as black and white printmaker, Jerome Drown Photography, Atlanta, Georgia, 1964-1966; From 1966-1968, he managed the Penthouse of the newly opened Atlanta Playboy Club 1966-1968. He returned to academia and pursued Graduate Studies at New York University 1968-1970 . Roberts moved to Florida and opened his Orlando Studio in 1971; As a teacher, he founded the photography program at the Loch Haven Art Center (now the Orlando Museum of Art) where he taught a series of popular classes and workshops 1972-1982.
Currently, Roberts works at his Orlando, Florida studio involved in studio and on-location photography projects for individual Attorneys, Small Business Owners, Executives, Artists and Writers, Musicians, Actors and Models, .He spends time working in the studio's tropical garden; enjoys cooking, reading, working out, and mentoring aspiring photographers and artists of all stripes who seek guidance, encouragement and inspiration in pursuing his or her own inner artist.
(Photo c. Marcus Sharpe, all rights reserved).