James Cooper is a professional photographer based in a New York City, shooting for a wide range of clients, including newspapers, magazines, record labels and performing artists. He is particularly well-known for great portraits of everyone from obscure people to celebrities, and brings out their natural persona by creating fun and relaxing sets. Clients have included Vanity Fair, Atlantic Records, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Associated Press, the LA times, Shinedown, HBO, Fuse Network, Universal Classical Records, Shape En Espanol, Vanity Fair Lingerie, Meinl Cymbals, Def Jam Records, Trans Siberian Orchestra, Guitar World Magazine, Jazz Times, Revolver Magazine, Trans Continental Records, Motown Records, Universal Records, The NFL, Latina Magazine, Jobson Publishing, Warner Brother Records, German Max, Tracks Magazine, Mojo, Australian Cosmo and many others.

Photography has been James' sole career his entire adult life, since his father, a retired detective, gave him one of his old surveillance cameras nearly 20 years ago to begin capturing sporting events for a local newspaper. He soon began working for many publications, and landed on staff as a photo editor at a chain of newspapers, shooting and assigning photos to accompany stories. He later concentrated on action shots and sports, winning the prestigious NFL Hall of Fame photo contest. One of the winners, of Giants receiver Mark Ingram, is on permanent exhibit at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio.  It also graced the cover of the DK published book “Best Shot, The Greatest NFL Photography on the Century”.  James began making portraits of athletes, and then expanded into portraits of musicians and actors for various publications. Fashion work followed.

James has shot countless album and magazine covers over the years. The work that he did for Atlantic Records rock band Shinedown earned James a Platinum Record from the band. He also toured with Shinedown as their photographer, and created the cover and an inside gallery on the band's DVD. He also remains a favorite of many in Hollywood for a fun portrait session. Shortly before legendary actor Paul Newman passed away in 2008, he asked if he could have the photo James took of him, saying it was his favorite photo that was ever taken of him.

James makes his home in Manhattan with his daughter, Caitlin, and girlfriend Kelli. When he is not behind the lens, he can be found training and competing in triathlons. He just completed his goal of doing a full Ironman by finishing Ironman USA in Lake Placid NY in 12:38. He looks forward to challenging new assignments in the years ahead and continuing to aim for the highest levels as a photographer and artist.