Jim Sugar

Jim Sugar began his career as a professional photographer three days after graduating with honors from Wesleyan University, when National Geographic hired him as a summer intern. During his 22 years as a contract photographer for National Geographic, Jim illustrated 35 magazine articles and three books. He also shot nine cover stories for Popular Mechanics and six cover stories for Boys' Life. His commercial clients have included DuPont, AT&T, IBM, Pfizer, SAP, and Visa. As a videographer and filmmaker, Jim has worked on a documentary for Radio Television Ireland and directed and produced a short documentary, Swimming in a Dream, which has been screened at four film festivals and won two awards. Jim has taught a series of national workshops on photographic lighting, and he has taught at Photography at the Summit, the Nikon Sports Photography Workshop, and the NPPA Flying Short Course. Jim won the National Press Photographers Association Magazine Photographer of the Year award and he was a runner-up in the White House News Photographers Association contest. He is fluent in French, holds a commercial pilot's license, and scuba dives, when necessary, to take photos.