Among the most honored photojournalists in America, Jim Douglas has won five Emmy Awards for best network television news photography. He has also won the nation’s most prestigious award, National TV News Photographer of the Year. An icon in news photography, Jim’s created images that were often breath taking, beautiful, and stunning.

At the age of 18 when he was a high school senior, Jim was entrusted with a Leica camera and asked to shoot a state wrestling championship in Wisconsin. He’d never shot a frame of film before. Six of his images were printed in a weekly newspaper and one of them won first place in the annual state newspaper photography competition. Since then, he’s captured a lifetime of “moments” in one of the most distinguished careers in the history of photography.

After an illustrious career in tv news photography, Jim is coming full circle, returning to his first passion; still photography. “As a trained journalist, I look for a decisive moment when something magical happens, an expression of joy or affection, for example.” He is currently focusing his efforts on wedding photography, engagement photos, and portraits for clients in the Excelsior and Lake Minnetonka area.

“I knew in the eight grade, after I took the family box camera on a class trip, that it would be a lifelong love affair,” says Jim.

Jim majored in art at the University of Wisconsin, a fact that is immediately obvious. His images often glow with light; warm, soft hues that Jim finds almost exclusively in nature. His portraits are often distinguished from the work of others by the artistry he brings to each image.

“I believe in filling a photograph with beauty. I’m not content to capture an expression, a smile for example, without filling the rest of the image with a context, one that is visually enchanting. That goes to my training as an artist, I’m sure. All those classes in painting and art history influenced how I see and how I shoot.”