Jim Rimi
b. 1961
American
(Washington, New Jersey; New York, New York)
Photography has been part of Jim Rimi’s life for as long as he can remember. In first grade, a teacher asked the class to think of their eyes as cameras, and that idea never left him. From an early age, he was drawn to the world through careful observation. At 13, he borrowed his first 35 mm camera from a friend, and together they developed film in a basement darkroom. Holding those first developed negatives up to the light was unforgettable, and it marked the beginning of a lifelong dedication to photography.
That early passion grew stronger in high school when a new teacher started a photography program. He later earned a BFA in Fine Art
Photography from Montclair State University, where he began developing the documentary approach and human focus that remain the heart of his work.
Over the years, Jim has pursued a wide range of photographic work. In 1981, he documented the Fulton Street Fish Market in New York City. Starting in 1983, he spent ten years photographing life in New York City’s subways, creating portraits of people experiencing homelessness, street musicians and the daily realities surrounding one of the city's largest men’s shelters. That work eventually became the book New York Underground. Jim studied with Mary Ellen Mark, Arnold Newman, and Joel Meyerowitz, and his work has been shaped by the example of photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Richard Avedon, Bruce Davidson, Diane Arbus and Walker Evans. For more than 40 years, he has worked professionally in fine art, documentary, portrait, and commercial photography.