There might be no way to enumerate photographer James Hamilton’s archive. It’s way too huge, occupying an entire storage locker in Manhattan. It spans more than four decades, during which he has photographed everything from artists and parties to war zones and celebrity homes, creating images that are shot through with a loose spontaneity. Hamilton’s photos of musicians have filled one monograph and he’s toyed with the idea of compiling his pictures from film productions. But bringing together all his work in one place? “I don’t know if I can do one book,” he told me over a Zoom call. “It’s a Pandora’s box.” 

For now, perhaps the best view we have of Hamilton’s hoard is in Uncropped, a new documentary directed by D.W. Young (The Booksellers). In tracing his storied career, the film resurfaces his indelible images with low-key narration by Hamilton himself. There’s a lot to unpack, not least for the photographer himself, who found the making of the documentary “illuminating.” 

“I found pictures that I have absolutely no memory of taking, mostly pictures I’d taken in the street,” he said. “It’s almost as if: ‘Who took that?’” 

James Hamilton, Outside a theater on 42nd Street, Times Square NYC (1978). Photo: James Hamilton.

Much of Hamilton’s career has hinged on the talismanic press pass, credentials that granted him access behind the curtain of New York’s arts and cultural scene. His first was faked, though: in 1969, he mocked up a press pass to photograph performers at the Texas International Pop Festival, developed the pictures, and submitted them to music magazine Crawdaddy. Thus launched his work with a string of outlets including the Herald, New York Observer, Harper’s Bazaar, and Village Voice from the 1970s through the 2000s. 

As captured in the film, Hamilton’s staff positions at these publications coincided with the heyday of print journalism. These magazines, he told me, were often generous with space, allowing him total creative control. “I basically almost created my own assignments in many cases,” he said. “I mean, the Observer had two pictures a week and I could do anything I wanted.” 

James Hamilton, Patti Smith and Tom Verlaine (1975). Photo: James Hamilton.

For these publications, Hamilton would photograph a slew of figures, not limited to Jack Nicholson, James Brown, Patti Smith, Candy Darling, and Andy Warhol. In the documentary are his tales about hanging out with Duane Allman in his hotel room and attending a party where Cary Grant informed all at a table about his knife phobia. Hamilton also once showed up unannounced at Alfred Hitchcock’s St. Regis suite with a camera and press pass; the Rear Window director allowed him to fire off a few casual shots.  

“I worked very fast and I talked more than I took pictures,” he recalled of his portrait sessions. “I didn’t shoot a lot of pictures, but I would engage. That was the thing really, because otherwise, the whole experience would be boring for both of us.” 

James Hamilton, Alfred Hitchcock (1972). Photo: James Hamilton.

Hamilton’s work also took him farther afield. Beginning in the late ’70s, he photographed conflicts in the Philippines, Nicaragua, Haiti, and Beijing; across the U.S., he shot anti-choice protests, white supremacists, and people dying of AIDS. With writer Kathy Dobie, his partner in life and journalism, he developed pictures for stories about interracial adoption and sex workers in Brooklyn, among others. For GQ, he traveled the world photographing pinball machines, images of which made up his first book, Pinball! (1977). “I said, ‘Who wants a book about pinball?’” he told me laughingly. “It turned out a lot of people did.” 

Throughout, Hamilton maintained his practice of documenting the streets of New York—one that continues today. “I had more fun doing that kind of photography than anything because it was full of surprises,” he said, adding that he found that same element of discovery when developing his photos in the darkroom. These images, like the rest of his work, are black-and-white, dynamically composed artifacts that convey an of-the-moment kineticism, a Hamilton signature. 

James Hamilton, Protest in Tompkins Square Park, NYC (1988). Photo: James Hamilton.

The photographer’s compositions and effective use of light emerge from his passion for cinema, cultivated during his childhood in Baltimore, Maryland. “I’m always reminded of films because they were very important to me,” he said in Uncropped. After he first picked up a camera as a student at New York’s Pratt Institute, his dramatic frames owed an immediate debt to the films of the 1950s and ’60s. (In our conversation, he rued not working more in Hollywood, where he could have met the likes of Orson Welles.)

While photographing film sets, Hamilton would also find himself in front of the camera: he’s had cameos in Milos Foreman’s Taking Off (1971), George Romero’s Knightriders (1981), and notably, Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Anderson, an executive producer on Uncropped, had sought out Hamilton to shoot stills on his sets, an assignment to which the photographer brought to bear his unswerving eye. “I’d rather have [him] document the movie like it’s part of the city,” the director recalled in the film, “than having someone that does things the studio is telling them to do.” 

“I was photographing everything, everything around the making of the film,” Hamilton told me about his time working with Anderson. “I treated it like a documentary—that’s the only way the job becomes fun.”

James Hamilton, Muhammed Ali (May 1977). Photo: James Hamilton.

As a younger man, Hamilton aspired to become a filmmaker until he picked up photography and found himself “content with the moment.” But in many ways, his photographic oeuvre serves up stories of its own—of New York’s cultural and social fabric, of a lifetime’s worth of work—or, as he described them in the documentary, “stories made up of moments.” They’re much like the vintage flipbooks he collects—a series of images that, when flicked through swiftly, give the semblance of movement. Hamilton, as he recounted in Uncropped, couldn’t resist swiping his first flipbook as a child.

“The irony is the first thing I ever stole was a flipbook, which combines film and stills, which is too weird,” he said. “I really do regret that I didn’t pick up a camera at that age because that’s what I believe I was born to do.” 

Uncropped is now showing at IFC Center and Sag Harbor Cinema in New York, and Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles. It will be available on digital platforms from May 7. 

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I try to capture the spirit of nature, so I can share its beauty with others. All my images are taken in natural habitats. I never move or relocate subjects for better backgrounds and tread lightly to respect the habitat I’m privileged to experience. The images are a gift to me by nature herself. I believe photographers have an important part to play in conservation, sharing the wonders of nature to a wider audience and thereby increasing awareness of the beauty we could potentially lose.

I was introduced to photography by my late father in the early ’70s; we used to develop and print our own photos in a home darkroom. We then got into macro photography. Our field kit was a macro lens on bellows with a pistol grip and cable release. Fast forward and I’ve been using Nikon cameras for many years. My first DSLR was the Nikon D70. The last was the Nikon D850, as I’ve just received a brand-new Nikon Z8. 

My interest in butterflies has become much more serious in recent years, and I’m now studying their behavior at my local nature reserve. The Z8’s high frame rate has given me the chance to photograph courtship displays and subsequently decode behavior patterns the D850 just couldn’t, consistently. Having viewed the first few images from my Z8, I have realized just how far optics have progressed.

My best shots

I’ve taken images like this before on my D850 and wanted to see how the Z8 and Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S would compare. I arrived just after dawn, mist hanging in the meadow and the sun peeping above the horizon. Research meant I had a pretty good idea where the silver-studded blues roosted. I eventually found a pristine female covered in dew and not obscured by heather stems. Once the sun crept above the trees behind me, it illuminated the butterfly and added golden sparkles to each of the dew drops. Perfect!

I wanted to capture the essence of a summer’s evening – a butterfly in a meadow bathed in golden sunshine. Butterflies roost in the early evening, often where they’ll catch the dawn sun. As a volunteer at my local reserve, I knew a secluded meadow with the right grass. The challenge was to find a solitary butterfly, catching the sun with its wings not fully closed and no wind. The small heath butterfly closes its wings as soon as it settles, hiding the ‘eye’ and orange color of the forewing, so I had to fire the shutter before it settled.

The butterfly in this image is smallish in size and very ‘flighty’. I wanted to capture it in its natural environment, where it often skips among the brambles. It’s also known as the hedge brown due to its propensity to frequent hedgerows. I used back-button focus with the Z8’s Pre-Release Capture so it recorded images when the shutter button was only half depressed, compensating for my slow reactions as the butterfly took off.

The six-spot burnet is a day-flying moth. It can be seen on a summer’s day, painting the sky with black lines, edged in red. I recced a few locations and waited for a calm evening with subdued lighting. I found four roosting on a thistle bloom, but as soon as I got set up they fell into the undergrowth; an effective defensive mechanism. I waited and, sure enough, they crawled back up their stems. I used Focus Peaking to ensure the nearest point was in focus and then used Focus Shift.

Dragonflies are skittish subjects. I’d watched this one for a while and realized it favored sitting on the same stick. I got myself set up and waited. It had seen me and promptly moved to another stick… I crawled towards it – silhouette below the skyline. Bingo! It landed and I got the shot.

My macro insect photography tips

• Get to know your subject. Learn where they roost, which flowers they visit and how they fly. The latter is particularly important when capturing insects in flight. Predicting the flight path can make or break an image.
• Use a fast shutter speed. When you photograph insects in flight, ideally use 1/8,000 sec. This will freeze your subject’s beating wing movements.
• Know the best time to go out. Insects are more dormant late in the evening or early in the morning. The latter is preferred, as dew will often settle on potential subjects, especially if there has been rain overnight.

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“Look!” will open April 27 at The Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Greenville.

The exhibit features photos taken by various photographers from across the state and will be on display at 300 College St. through June 14.

“We’re honored to host the Look! exhibit in partnership with Family Connection of South Carolina. This collaboration reflects TCMU’s dedication to inclusivity and accessibility and introduces this meaningful collection to visitors from across the Upstate,” said Lauren Luneckas, TCMU’s CEO. “Through these photographs, we aim to promote understanding and celebrate the inspiring stories of children and families facing disabilities or chronic health conditions.”

Access to the exhibit is included with museum admission. Tickets are free for TCMU members and children under 1 year old; $10 per educator, military member or senior; $13 per South Carolina resident and $19 for general admission. For more information, visit tcmupstate.org.

A PHOTOGRAPHER has dished on one of his most challenging jobs to date.

He said a wedding went awry, sending the bride into tears.

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Kris Labang of Hawaii Wedding Photography spilled the beans on the unfortunate ceremony.

The photographer has seen it all, with over 20 years of experience in the industry.

He recounted one of the worst stories on the job, which turned the big day into a blunder.

The wedding fail took the cake, with Labang describing it as being unforgettable.

NOT TEARS OF JOY

Labang explained that with his level of expertise, he’s witnessed a lot in his industry.

“Believe me when I say that I have seen and heard it all,” he said.

“But some wedding disasters you can never forget.”

What makes the story worse is that the snafu could have easily been avoided.

“Another photographer I know had met with the happy couple in advance to discuss and plan their photos for the day,” he said.

“Every couple is different, and every wedding is different, so planning is important to make sure the best shots are all captured.”

Issues arose once the when the groom’s mother stepped in while the shots were being taken.

“The photoshoot started well enough,” he said. “But then the mother-in-law decided to get involved.”

She began taking her own pictures with her phone, despite protests from the bride.

“The photographer did his best, but with an amateur taking control, the results were disappointing, to say the least,” he said.

“People didn’t look happy in the photographs, and an argument even broke out among the family. At one point, the bride was in tears.”

FEELINGS IN CHECK

With weddings already being a time when emotions are on a high, Labang recommended keeping an eye on the prize.

“A wedding is a highly emotional day, and the frustration when something goes wrong can escalate quickly, ruining the day,” he said.

“Weddings are once-in-a-lifetime, and the run-up to the big day puts tremendous stress on those involved.

“Sometimes, it all comes out during the wedding.”

Labang also had some advice for other photographers on similar assignments.

“A more experienced photographer would have handled the mother’s interference, got the shots, and kept everyone happy,” he said.

“Being a professional is about understanding people and circumstances and working the crowd.

“On this occasion, most of the planned photos were never taken, and the ones that were looked disorganized and a mess.

“No one was happy with the results, yet it all could have easily been avoided.”

The Richmond Photo Club is holding its annual show at Lansdowne Centre with 80 photos on display.

The club’s members are displaying both colour and black and white photos until Sunday, April 28.

The public is invited to come and look at the photos and then vote on their preferred image.

Club members will be on-hand to help with the voting and to talk about their activities.

The photo exhibit at Lansdowne is located at the Centre Court, close to the food court and Toys’R’Us.

For more information on the Richmond Photo Club, click here.

This afternoon, Buckingham Palace announced King Charles would be returning to public duties starting next week. Though his cancer treatment is not finished, a Palace spokesperson said “doctors are sufficiently pleased with the progress made so far that The King is now able to resume a number of public-facing duties.” The spokesperson added that his “medical team are very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about The King’s continued recovery.”

In tandem with the announcement, the Palace shared a new portrait of King Charles and Queen Camilla, taken earlier this month on the morning of April 10 by photographer Millie Pilkington. The portrait was taken the day after the royal couple’s 19th wedding anniversary, and King Charles and Queen Camilla look as in love as ever.

Pilkington posted the image on her Instagram, sharing, “Feeling truly honoured to have been asked to take this portrait of Their Majesties the King and Queen earlier this month in Buckingham Palace Gardens. And delighted that His Majesty the King is recovering so well.” She added, “Thank you @theroyalfamily for such a wonderful commission, and Paul Ellis for assisting me on the day – couldn’t have done it without you.”

Pilkington is no stranger to royal family portraits—in fact, she took a number of photos released by Kensington Palace on special occasions last year, including a portrait of Prince William and his kids for father’s day, and portraits for Prince Louis’s 5th birthday, Princess Charlotte’s 8th birthday, and Prince George’s 10th birthday.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.