About

Jim Batty

A few words about me

I am a Photographer, Author and Graphic & Photographic Designer.

These are my three favourite professional pursuits, and occasionally I'm lucky enough to have them all converge within a single project … and everything becomes wonderful!

I have been making and taking photographs since I was a kid, keen on National Geographic magazine and exploring local neighbourhoods with a 110 instamatic. For many years my working life in graphic design subsidized a global wanderlust — that involved packing precious stocks of Kodachrome 64 in foam rubber tubes and a manual Nikon to some very remote and dusty places. This, in turn, lead to producing photos for editorial and travel publications and I began travel writing – and was shortlisted for a Thomas Cook Sunday Times Travel Writing award.

During the late 90s I turned from crossing continents to exploring the mental world by studying for an MPhil in Philosophy. With a grounding in classical and analytical philosophy, modified by a healthy skepticism inspired by Hermann Hesse's novel The Glass Bead Game, I ultimately wrote a thesis about the philosophy of photography called An Intentional Understanding of Photographs – an investigation into pictorial representation and photographic understanding. If you're interested, here's a brief introduction to the topic: How do Photographs Represent Things?

After this internal voyage, in 2004 I felt a titanic urge to simply pick up a camera and photograph things. I started up my own online stock image library and began paddling the River Thames in a Stearns inflatable kayak searching for the best watery and boaty images. Simultaneousy I continued to design graphically within the corporate world and, of course, always having a camera in my bag meant I became de facto a conference, event and portrait photographer into the bargain. Busy, good fun.

In 2009 my partner and I moved permanenty aboard a 53-ft narrowboat. My book Narrowboat Life: Discover Life Afloat on the Inland Waterways (Bloomsbury; 2016, fully revised 2019) is the culmination of our explorations of Britain's southern waterways and its community, while living on a continuously cruising boat.

My publisher suggested I photograph the interiors of vessels to complement the book. This sparked a completely new interest for me and I now love tackling the photographic challenges of interior design afloat. What could be better?

These days I also work part-time as a Graphic & Photographic Designer for a medium-sized hi-tech business, producing photo-montages of products in development and designing photo-infused exhibition stands, marketing material and, most recently, product and corporate videos.

Three ducks on a calm green River Thames: one looking left, one looking right and the furthest duck in the middle looking at the viewer

 

Two images: Leander Club rower dressed in pink jacket and cap sitting in rowing skiff, Henley; Traditional Khmer woman dancer in crowd of dancers holding up a sun umbrella, Thailand

 

The crew of narrowboat 'President' and butty 'Kildare' tying up at Braunston Marina

Potted History

Here's some personal and professional highlights:

Vancouver ⇒ UK

Delighted with the human scale of English landscapes and the cultural richness of London, we moved permanently to the UK.

Photo journey: Sri Lanka → India → Nepal

Travelled overland from the tea estates of Haputale, via Sri Aurobindo in Pondicherry, to Darjeeling and glimpses of Sikkim in the mist, Himalayan Sikles and the Sardi Khola northeast of Pokhara.

Photo journey: Pakistan → Xinjiang → Shanghai → Hong Kong → NE Thailand

Karachi north, via archaeologically rich Mohenjo-daro and Taxila, to Hunza then over the wintry Khunjerab Pass to Kashgar. The caravanserais of Xinjiang followed, then Xian, Shanghai, HK's Star Ferry and ultimately Thailand's secret Mekong River hinterland.

Shortlisted for the Thomas Cook Sunday Times Travel Writing Competition

I was a top 10 finalist, out of 2,500 entries, for a travel story about crossing Xinjiang by bus – as judged by Robin Hanbury-Tenison, Norman Lewis and Sue Townsend.

Philosophical journey: BA & MPhil Philosophy and
Exploration of the Massive Central

Studied classical philosophy, focusing on ethics & aesthetics, and developed a thesis on photographic understanding. For reflection and relief I walked pilgrim trails all over the remote, volcanic centre of France packing a lightweight tent and camera equipment.

Launch of the Jim Batty Image Library

An online resource specialising in stock images of the River Thames (many shot from a 'kayak platform'), the inland waterways (navigations all over England and Wales pursued by mountain bike), urban London and British travel.

ALAMY image library

In those days ALAMY invited photographers to join them.

Our life afloat begins

In late November we moved aboard our own narrowboat – the best thing we'd done in years – and almost immediately faced record snowfalls! This new life inspired an even more intimate photographic view of the inland waterways, a host of anecdotes and the outline of a new book.

Publication of Narrowboat Life by Bloomsbury

The book sold out during the first year and a half, so we planned for a completely revised update – with new photographs of boat interiors and the waterways.

Publication of revised 2nd edition of Narrowboat Life

Young girl in hand-stitched dress holding a doll while standing before a shop window, Brittany, France
Two doorways appearing from wind- and sea-eroded cliffs, Santorini, Greece
Two statues of Hindu godesses on a bank of the River Hooghly, Calcutta (Kolkata)
An enormous pile of mats, like a giant hat, draped over an old Chinese truck at Kashgar Market, Xinjiang, China
Darkly tanned man in bright white shorts, tank top and wooly hat sitting in a Parisian art gallery
Uighur couple driving their donkey cart down a remote, lombardy poplar lined rural track, Xinjiang, China

Selected Projects

Here's a glimpse. To see more, have a look at my ever-growing photographic projects gallery.

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