For as long as I can remember, I have had an interest in the arts. That interest became concentrated in photography around 2004. Around 2006 I decided to start a business doing what was, and continues to be, a strong passion of mine.

I started ofMemories with the vision of providing high quality photography services that is custom tailored to the customer’s needs, and is affordable. I’ve had busy times and less busy times, but overall I am pleased with the progress we have made so far. Most of our clients have come through referrals and word of mouth, but we have been attempting to “get-the-word-out” through creative advertising and social networking.
We cater to smaller events, and have photographed weddings, engagements, birthdays, portraits (on-location, no studio yet), and others. We are always looking for new opportunities.
Here’s some connection/contact information:
»Website: www.ofmemories.com
»Facebook Page: facebook.com/ofMemories
»Google+ Page: plus.ofmemories.com
»Twitter: www.twitter.com/ofMemories
»LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ofmemories
»Email: contact@ofmemories.com
»Phone: 732.660.8831
There have been some changes to my photography site: photographer.sherwinjames.com. I recently added some new photos and updated the site a bit. Do check it out. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts.

I have always had a strong interest in the mechanics and process of thought, particularly on how it relates to communities, groups or masses. We all have thoughts – most we keep to ourselves; some we share; a few we scream to the world. We often think that our thoughts are completely unique. On the edges they may be, but at their core they are very much like the thoughts of those near or far from us.
About a year ago I decided to start a little online experiment that is centered on thought (particularly shared thought). I created a web site titled Think.as.MANY. The site currently has two components (or apps), Think.like.ME? and Think.of.a.STORY. Here’s a screenshot of the main page:

Think.like.ME? enables a visitor to enter a thought (a statement, question, anything – excluding profanity). In return the visitor is presented with other thoughts that have been entered prior that are similar. This is all done anonymously. The visitor can also browse through existing thoughts, and traverse through similar thoughts (thought tree). The idea is to see how thoughts are alike (or not). As more thoughts are added, the experiment becomes more realistic. Also, I have built a simple Android app for this. You can find it in the Android Market with the name think.like.ME?.
Think.of.a.STORY is about building a continuous story. Each visitor contributes part of the story on each visit. It’s a concept that has been done often in the past, but I thought it might be fun and interesting to visual the result across the vast Internet.
With both of these apps, the more participation the better. I encourage you to visit, participate and share with others.
In my online and real-world travels I often come upon discussions on the categorization and compartmentalization of photography. It often starts with questions like “What genre is this photo?” or “Would you consider this fine art?” or “Is this photography or graphic art?“. I sometimes wonder if such questions, or rather the resulting attempts to answer them, are helpful or harmful to the photo or photography in general.
In some sense, categorization helps to focus the viewer on photos to which they care most about or to which they are most attracted to. It can help to give the viewer a sense of authenticity – like in the case of journalistic photography vs. creatively manipulated photography. Although that last point assumes that a photograph can absolutely capture an image as it truly was in the real-world. I believe that is a false assumption. Well, the ability to put a photo into a particular bucket can also aid the photographer is his/her process of creating the photo – whether it be composing the shot in a certain way, or applying the appropriate post-processing.
On the other hand, one can argue that the categorization and compartmentalization of a photo can be too constraining on the artistic intent of the photo. What does it matter what type of photo it is, as long as it appeals to the viewer. Do we need to know that a photo is “not manipulated” vs heavily processed (whether film or digital)? Maybe for legal or forensic purposes (but even then I can argue that a photo is never absolutely representative of real-life).
What is the point of a photo? Is it primarily to benefit the photography? The viewer? The “art” of photography? Society in general? I don’t know.
What do you think?

My photo “Visits” received a DOPE photo award. Check it out here.

Check out the updated ThinkAsMany with with a new story feature. You can find the site at www.thinkasmany.com.

My photo “Central Park” received a DOPE photo award. Check it out at 

This photo of mine was published on 1x.com, a premiere photography site.
Check it out at Super.