About Photographer, Jim Mountford

My Life

I was born in San Francisco and raised south of there in Palo Alto, graduating from Palo Alto High School with a major in getting stoned, cutting school, trying to get laid, unsuccessfully, smoking two packs of unfiltered Camels a day, ignoring my health, parents, teachers and future. It was all about sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Thank God I grew up.

Jim Mountford - circa 2009

I've had so many jobs in my life I'm not sure if I could list them all. From washing dishes to being the night manager at the San Francisco Chronicle Imaging Department, to teaching public speaking for Dale Carnegie.

I've lived somewhat of a colorful life, albeit it hasn't always been what I wanted, nevertheless its been a pretty good ride for the most part.

The things I really enjoy in life, other then photography, is my two children, Erik who is now 25 and my daughter Chelsea, soon to be 18.

A few of the other things, sailing down the California coast single hand in my Islander 32 sloop in some god-awful weather I count as one of my greatest accomplishments. While others turned back, I just kept plugging away. During my Air Force stint I managed to get a back seat ride in a F-4 fighter jet that was like riding a roller coaster for over an hour. My barf bag almost became my best friend. I'd do it again despite being told my face was green when I crawled out of the cockpit, yet I was grinning like a kid with the flue during Christmas.

In my ramp up to what I am now I found a few valuable lessons in life. One is not turning a hobby into a business. At least that's my opinion for what it's worth. I finally, after years of taking photos decided to hang up my shingle and slowly as the responsibilities became greater, my love of photography turned sour. I dreaded even taking photos of my young son. I finally let the business die because, while I was making tons of money, it was no longer a joy, it was a job that consumed my life. It took me about a decade to regain that love and by then digital had finally come on its own.

No longer would I spend hours in the darkroom going through a $75 box of Oriental Seagull trying to get an image just right. Now I have instant feedback, Adobe Photoshop, other software and plug-ins that take the monumental drudgery out of photography today so I can concentrate on the creative side.

Today, like hundreds of thousands of other Americans, I'm living overseas. Something I have always wanted to do since I was a child so as to experience a much different way of life. This country I live in now, China is about as different from the USA as Justin Beiber is to Mozart. Yet in so many ways we are alike. We all want the same things, family, success, money, comfort and safety. I have also learned that a country is not measured by its government, but rather its people and China is full of some of the most friendly and curious people I have ever met.

I 'm teaching English as a second language for the last four years here in China at the college level and consider myself semi retired, only working 12 to 18 hours a week. And of course, taking photos.

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