Above: One of James’ favourite projects, ‘Sleeping on the job’.

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Jodie James has spent more than a decade building a name as one of New Zealand’s leading commercial and editorial photographers creating scenes that sit somewhere between conceptual storytelling and emotional portraiture.

Based in the South Island, James works with both international brands and local clients. Her work is known for its atmosphere, humour and quiet narratives.

She’s now landed a major achievement to her career with being selected for the esteemed Lürzer’s Archive 200 Digital Artists. The internationally respected publication showcases standout creative work from photographers, designers and directors around the world. An inclusion in Lürzer’s Archive is most widely regarded as a significant mark of excellence among advertisers and creatives.

Still make the world smile

For James, the recognition arrived during one of the most challenging periods of her life, receiving the news during cancer treatment, all while taking care of a baby.

“Five stars for plot development, two stars for sleep,” she says. “Somewhere between chemo appointments, night wakes and wondering if I’d ever feel like myself again, I was also apparently doing some of the best work of my career? Wild.

“There were days I questioned everything, my energy, my brain, my place in this industry. And then this lands in my inbox like, ‘hey, you’re actually doing something right.’”

The award recognised work created in what she describes as a “messy, chaotic, beautiful, hard” season of life.

“This one feels different,” she says. “Still thoughtful, still intentional, but created in a season where my brain has felt part-time at best. And yet somehow, I can still make something that makes the world smile.”

Centred around human connection

The ability to balance emotion with storytelling has long been a part of James’ work. With a background in marketing she approaches her photography with both a creative and commercial understanding, taking a brief and turning it into something visually striking while connecting with her audience.

“I create conceptual advertising and portrait work centred around story and human connection,” she says. “My images are built from atmosphere and feeling as much as composition, often holding a quiet narrative just beneath the surface of what you see, where emotion and light do most of the talking.”

Her work has earned recognition both nationally and internationally including honours at the IPA Awards, Head On Photo Awards and exhibitions throughout New Zealand. Most recently, she won the overall photography prize at the 2025 Wānaka Labour Weekend Arts Exhibition.

Extra meaningful

James is also part of Women’s Work, a collective focused on increasing female representation in commercial photography. She believes women bring a different perspective to advertising imagery, particularly in an industry shaped heavily by female consumers.

“I really feel the female angle brings such a different insight to advertising,” she says.

Beyond the awards and recognition, James says the latest Lürzer’s Archive 200 Digital Artists achievement feels important for another reason: it arrived at a time when she truly needed it.

“So here it is,” she says. “A little win in a season that’s been anything but straightforward. Proof that you can be in the thick of it, and still make something meaningful.”

And as she adds, most of it was “probably edited one-handed while holding a baby.”