The Daily Edit – James Ross Mankoff: Photographer and craftsman

James Ross Mankoff Heidi: After 20 years as a professional photographer, when did you realize you wanted to move from capturing light to designing objects that create light? James: I’ve always considered myself an artist first, and photography was just one aspect of the way I express myself. About five years I moved into a house with a garage and immediately built a workshop. I’ve always collected furniture, and I’ve always collected lighting and admired it. And so I started learning woodworking so I could build a small lamp that was a genuine expression of myself. It all felt very fluid. The process to come up with the design, to experiment with materials, to learn tools… it was all so freeing. How did the transition change your creative process? I’m many ways, they are similar. My approach to photography was always to let the subject or location tell me how they want to be photographed. Not to force myself upon an image, but to observe, listen, and work alongside that. The same is…