Geoffrey James British, b. Wales, 1942- The garden panoramas for which Geoffrey James is best known depict utopian spaces that, since the height of their grandeur in centuries past, have fallen into decay and neglect. He uses a large-format camera fitted with a curved film plane to allow the dramatic curves of his architectural and natural subjects to speak most effectively. The resulting monochromatic panoramas are three times longer than they are high, which allows for multiple vantage points and the play of perspective. James's most obvious historical precedent is Eugène Atget, whose extensive series of Parisian gardens speak with a similar technical vocabulary. James (born in St. Asaph) was educated at Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, and at Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied modern history (B.A., 1962; M.A., 1964). He taught himself photography in 1965, then moved to Canada, working for several years as contributing editor of Time magazine in Montreal (1967-75), as head of the Visual Arts Section of the Canada Council, Ottawa (1975-82), and on various independent freelance projects. James has also taught at the University of Ottawa (1982-84) and has received a fellowship from the Graham Foundation in Fine Arts (1984) and an artist-in-residency from the Centre International de Recherche de Création et d'Animation, Villeneuve-les-Avignon, France (1985). A retrospective of his work, Genius Loci, was organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (1986). His publications include Transparent Things: The Artist's Use of Photography (1977), The Legacy of Atget (coauthor, 1977), Visions: Essays on Contemporary Canadian Art (coeditor, 1977), Entrances and Exits (1984), I Giardini Italiani (1985), Genius Loci (1986), and Morbid Symptoms (1987). James lives in Toronto. A.W.