Jim Amos was born and raised in Kalamazoo, Michigan in a musical family. After discovering at an early age that he didn't have enough talent to be a musician, he turned to photography -- a decision for which he is grateful. He studied photography and photographic technology at Rochester Institute of Technology and then worked for Eastman Kodak Company where he became a Professional Technical Representative. However, his real love was making photographs, so in 1967 he left Kodak to become a free lance photographer which led to a twenty-six year career making photographs for National Geographic Society. He did many magazine assignments and the photographs for two books. He was happiest when he could make images that combined both editorial content and artistic merit.
In 1969, and again 1970, he was named "Magazine Photographer of the Year" by the National Press Photographers Association. He also received many awards from the White House News Photographers Association.
Since leaving the Geographic in 1993, his time is divided between doing unassigned photography for stock and fine art, organizing his photographic collection, and doing digital printing using Epson printers and archival inks and papers. From every standpoint, he can make better prints now than he ever could in the darkroom, and the resulting prints are more permanent. Jim also has fun doing it.
He is represented by several stock photography agencies including Corbis, Photo Researchers, and Panoramic Images.