James Sparshatt Art

A photograph of Mario locked in a harmonious embrace with his trumpet… a moment of magic in a jazz club in New Orleans. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the ...

Rolling waves crashing against the breakwater in St Monan’s calmed by a long exposure after dark. James Sparshatt’s black and white landscapes have an ethereal beauty. They are mom...

A frozen morning in the highlands of Scotland and the sun battles to emerge from the mists. James Sparshatt’s black and white landscapes have an ethereal beauty. They are moments w...

Havana Café. El Escabeche is a bar about halfway along called Obispo in old Havana. It was late afternoon when the band began to play. Their new lead singer was performing for the fi...

Every Sunday afro-Cubans gather in the Callejon de Hammel to play the drums and sing the harsh vocals of rumba. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cuban...

Every Sunday afro-Cubans gather in the Callejon de Hammel to play the drums and sing the harsh vocals of rumba. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cuban...

Aodh is a god of the underworld and prince of the Daoine Sidhe in Irish mythology. The crashing waves in this cave made its legend as a gateway to the realm of the Gods entirely u...

June Lake on the Eastern Escarpment of the Californian Sierra Maestre range. Hours before sunrise the frozen lake was buffeted by winds. The ice cracked and ...

Dancers during the Romerias de Mayo festival in Holguin Cuba. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people los...

Just after sunrise the mists disburse to reveal a panorama of pagodas stretching across the Bagan valley in Burma. Drifting slowly in the almost imperceptible breeze a flotilla of h...

A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley in Cuba. In 1959 residents of Cuba were faced with a stark choice: stay on their island home and live as a “revolutionary” or leave. Some believed wholeheartedly in the new beginning, some were willing to be carried along and some abandoned everything they had and chose exile. The Buena Vista social club...

A moment of joy on the dancefloor at the Festival Acadiens et Creoles in 2019 in Lafayette, Louisiana. A joyous connection! Lafayette Louisiana, USA 2019 James Sparshatt‘s black a...

Havana Café. El Escabeche is a bar about halfway along called Obispo in old Havana. It was late afternoon when the band began to play. Their new lead singer was performing for the fi...

La Linea by James Sparshatt. Romantic photo of tango. Palladium Platinum Print. A line to be crossed… a man leads with strength and tenderness on the tango ...

A photograph of Mario locked in a harmonious embrace with his trumpet… a moment of magic in a jazz club in New Orleans. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the ...

Flamenco is an expression of life’s emotions… of love, anger, sorrow and joy. Of passion and all the things that it drives us to. Andalusian flamenco was born in the Gitano or Gyps...

Black and white portrait of a Cuban musician called Dagoberto. Dagoberto began playing his guitar in the Casa de la Trova in Holguin, Cuba, in 1944. Sixty years later in 2004 I had ...

On a musical and pleasure seeking pilgrimage… during Las Romerias de Mayo festival in Holguín. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a strength of character and underlying humour that transcends the struggle that has defined their lives. James Sparshatt went to Cuba in 1999 and was so taken with the island and its people that he returned 15 times in the following 7 years. His images are largely of the music and dance and innate rhythm of the island but he also found himself drawn to an older generation that had been old enough to understand the revolution in 1959, that lived through 40 years of tumultuous and often difficult times and who now watch with some bemusement the return of the outside world in wave upon wave of tourists. James Sparshatt’s photographs of the “Revolutionary” generation of Cubans capture their grit and indominatable spirit. The black and white portrait photograph...

A woman of vigour and spirit and humour, full of stories, sat on her rocking chair, smoking a cigar, commenting on the world with a word or stream of invective. The Spirit of the Re...

June Lake on the Eastern Escarpment of the Californian Sierra Maestre range. Hours before sunrise the frozen lake was buffeted by winds. The ice cracked and ...

The Nubra Valley is part of the Tibetan plateau. It is an arid landscape surrounded by awesome peaks, a high altitude desert inhabited by a few small Ladakhi communities and their ...

The Nubra Valley is part of the Tibetan plateau. It is an arid landscape surrounded by awesome peaks, a high altitude desert inhabited by a few small Ladakhi communities and their ...

Just after sunrise the mists disburse to reveal a panorama of pagodas stretching across the Bagan valley in Burma. Drifting slowly in the almost imperceptible breeze a flotilla of h...

El Ensayo (the rehearsal) was taken during the Romerias de Mayo festival in Holguin Cuba. The troupe were preparing for a performance of Afro-Cuban dance...

A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley in Cuba. In 1959 residents of Cuba were faced with a stark choice: stay on their island home and live as a “revolutionary” or leave. Some believed wholeheartedly in the new beginning, some were willing to be carried along and some abandoned everything they had and chose exile. The Buena Vista social club found fame as much for their incredible spirit as for their music, but for me it is the everyman that you meet on the street, cigar clamped between teeth, a glint in the eye, that embodies the true spirit of those who have lived through 50 years of struggle. James Sparshatt’s photographs of the “Revolutionary” generation of Cubans capture their grit and indominatable spirit. The black and white portrait photograph...

Dancing to the rhythm of the Gods in Santiago de Cuba… Ochun reborn… James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people lost in the rhythm ...

Just after dawn on the Henderson swamp in Louisiana, with only alligators and storks for company, the hanging moss and primeval cypress trees in calm magnificence. James Sparshatt’s...

A moment of harmony… male with female, African with Hispanic… joined together in the dance that is Cuba. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and int...

A girl at one with the rhythm of her guitar in Holguín, Cuba. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people lost in the rhythm of the...

The school of Spanish dance is housed in the upper floors of the Teatro Garcia Lorca in Havana. The wooden floors of the rehearsal rooms are worn and pitted, the mirrors stained, but...

A fleeting touch of the lips on a tango dance floor James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people lost in the rhythm of the moment. The...

Havana Café. El Escabeche is a bar about halfway along called Obispo in old Havana. It was late afternoon when the band began to play. Their new lead singer was performing for the fi...

Dancers during the Romerias de Mayo festival in Holguin Cuba. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people lost in the rhythm of the ...

Music in Havana is an almost ever present backdrop to life… wandering the streets it is almost as though there is a soundtrack playing to the movie of your life. These school kids we...

A dance troupe in harmony rehearsing in an old theatre in Santa Clara, Cuba James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people lost in the ...

New Orleans is a mecca for music lovers from around the world. Wandering up Frenchmen Street on a sultry Louisianan evening is to be surrounded by competing sounds vying for attentio...

The gentleman… a man of calm dignity and endessly kind eyes in Old Havana in 2016. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic chan...

The light of the moon creates an otherworldly ethereal world, a stillness and calm across the spiritual landscaper of the Bagan valley in Burma. J...

There is a something about being a child on the beach where the sheer exuberance of running into the waves transcends the normal social barriers, and the shared exhilarance allows fo...

El Principe - the little prince.  The Raphael Trejo gym is an institution of Old Havana. An open air gym that has produced world beating champions from bare-footed initiates.  In 2004 this boy was a star in the making... he went on to win medals in the boxing ring at London, Rio and Tokyo Olympic...

A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a s...

A man of gentlemany demeanour, content with his cigar. A sentinel watching the world pass amidst the endless sugar cane country of central Cuba. The Spirit of the Revolution serie...

A tobacco farmer from the Viñales valley in Cuba. In 1959 residents of Cuba were faced with a stark choice: stay on their island home and live as a “revolutionary” or leave. Some believed wholeheartedly in the new beginning, some were willing to be carried along and some abandoned everything they had and chose exile. The Buena Vista social club...

The Viñales valley in western Cuba is a place of stunning beauty where perhaps the finest tobacco leaves in the world are grown. The tobacco farmers live hard but proud lives. The S...

The last tango of the day en la Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. James Sparshatt’s photographs of music and dance capture the emotion and intensity of people lost in the rhythm of the...

There is a something about being a child on the beach where the sheer exuberance of running into the waves transcends the normal social barriers, and the shared exhilarance allows fo...

Saiorse is the Irish Gaelic word for freedom. It suggests the yearning of emigrants to set off on a journey to a new world… where everything is brighter and more magical. The sea is...

Students of the Spanish School of Dance in the Gran Teatro of Havana. James Sparshatt’s black and white portraits are a search for a connection with a world of emotions. The work i...

The bearded one… in Old Havana. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generation of Cubans that saw the dramatic changes of 1959 as young adults. They have a strength of...

The old country girl from the Escambray mountains. I was hiking in the mountains, close to Trinidad, when I met the family. They invited me in and we chatted about our different live...

Graciela was for many years an institution in Old Havana. Always dressed beautifully, a cigar clamped between her teeth, a grin at the ready. A witness to the Cuban revolution and 50...

Portrait of Elvirio el Dandy. An icon of Old Havana at the turn of the century. His custom of wearing finery has spawned a whole generation of young “Dandies” who hang out on Havan...

Location: Havana Series : Spirit of the Revolution Year: 2001 Portrait of Elvirio el Dandy. An icon of Old Havana at the turn of the century. His custom of wearing finery has spaw...

There is a something about being a child on the beach where the sheer exuberance of running into the waves transcends the normal social barriers, and the shared exhilarance allows fo...

Te veo… I see you. Matanzas 2005. Sparshatt's black-and-white portrait captures the essence of a weathered, elderly man, his face a tapestry of deep wrinkles that tell stories of a...

This striking black-and-white photograph of a Bluesman on Beale street in Memphis, Tennessee, captures the essence of timelessness and passion in music. The musician is seated on a w...

A moment of joy on the dance floor at the Festival Acadiens et Creoles in 2019 in Lafayette, Louisiana. A senior Southern Gentleman combines strength and tenderness to give his danc...

The Nubra Valley is part of the Tibetan plateau. It is an arid landscape surrounded by awesome peaks, a high altitude desert inhabited by a few small Ladakhi communities and their ...

Puro is Cuban slang for a cigar… alegria is Spanish for happiness… for Graciela both always seemed essential to her being. The Spirit of the Revolution series documents the generati...

Aodh's domain, the realm of the celtic God of the underworld. Waves wash into the cave and create a world of mystery. James Sparshatt’s black and white landscapes have an ethereal ...