About Lenspiration

Meet James Staddon, photographer & photography coach

Hi! I’m James Staddon

I’m a landscape, event, and wedding photographer from West Virginia

Ever since I was young, I’ve been captivated by God's creation. I was inspired by my uncle's pictures of landscapes and the places he traveled, and his work made me excited about exploring photography. I had been taking pictures since the early 2000s, but in 2013 I jumped into pro photography and started teaching with Lenspiration.

I know what it’s like to struggle through years of taking bad pictures and feeling confused by all the camera settings. It doesn’t have to be a struggle, though! I love to help students feel confident using their camera and learn how to “think like a photographer” so they can take beautiful photos too.

My friends and family would say that I love to take pictures. I would say that I love helping others take pictures. Through the assignments, workshops and coaching offered through Lenspiration, I love to see inspiration planted, nurtured, and expressed for the glory of God in the work of other photographers.

James Staddon, Founder of Lenspiration, professional photographer, and photography coach

View My Work

James’s Photography Portfolio

Fine Art Photography Calendars

James’s Photos on Adobe Stock

The Mission

The mission of Lenspiration is to provide wholesome, family-friendly photography training to help photographers of any skill level take satisfying pictures that they’re excited to share with others. We want to help each photographer develop an eye for beauty through real-life photo assignments, online training, and hands-on workshops. Many of our students enjoy this training through our membership but we also have many free ways to learn photography as well.

At Lenspiration, we have one foundation for deciding what is “wholesome” and “family-friendly”: the inspired Word of God (see Defining "Wholesomeness" below). We encourage our members and students to look to the Bible to determine for themselves what wholesome and family-friendly mean for them.

What does “family friendly” mean to us?

Defining “Wholesomeness” (What counts as wholesome and beautiful?)

	Objective	Subjective
Beauty	That which is pleasing to the eye	That which is pleasing to my eye
Moral Beauty	That which is pleasing to the eye and in line with a moral standard (2)	That which is pleasing to my eye and in line with my moral standard (3)
Wholesome Beauty	That which is pleasing to the eye and in line with the standards of the God of the Bible (1)	That which is pleasing to my eye and in line with my understanding of the standards of the God of the Bible (4)

1. In the beginning, everything that God made was good. Everything that existed was objectively wholesomely beautiful (Genesis 1:31).

2. When mankind chose to follow their own moral standards over God's moral standards, sin entered the world, shattering universal objective wholesome beauty and introduced the confusion of individual, objective moral beauty, ie. mankind choosing for themselves what is right and wrong (Romans 3:10-18).

3. As a descendant of Adam and recipient of his sinful nature, I am apt to follow moral standards that I set for myself, so my perspective on beauty, without completely factoring in God's perspective, is subjective moral beauty (Romans 5:14).

4. As a Christian, however, I am now a recipient of the nature of Jesus Christ. I no longer desire to follow my own moral standards, so my perspective on beauty, to the best of my ability to understand God's perspective, is now subjective wholesome beauty (II Peter 1:2).

I am not God so I can not completely know true, objective wholesome beauty. But it is my desire to seek it, conform my subjective perspective to it, surround myself with it, and share what I discover about it with others (I Timothy 4:12).

Thus, it is my desire that all content recommended by Lenspiration or displayed on the Lenspiration website be objectively, wholesomely beautiful in the eyes of God. Does the content make God smile? Since everyone has their own subjective opinions of what wholesome beauty might look like (or even who "God" is), constructive collaboration and discussion is welcomed and strongly encouraged. We learn from each other's experience and help each other surrender more and more to the perspectives of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God (Hebrews 3:13, Colossians 1:13-15). In these discussions, Lenspiration reserves the right to remove or edit any content added to the Lenspiration website based on the moderators own subjective perspective on wholesome beauty and the Word of God (Philippians 4:8).

Statement of Faith

Here at Lenspiration, participation by all photographers is welcome and encouraged regardless of race, age, gender, religion, background, persuasion, or opinion! We all have something to learn from each other.

Lenspiration is not associated with any particular Christian denomination. It simply runs on Biblical, Christian principle, guided by the following basic statements of faith:

The Authority of the Bible: We believe that the Bible, comprised of sixty-six books, is the only inspired Word of God, without error in the original manuscripts, and God’s special revelation to mankind (John 10:35, II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:16-21); that it is the final authority and guide for all faith and practice (Psalm 119:9-16, 105-112; Romans 10:17, II Timothy 3:17); and that it constitutes the divine rule by which all people will be held accountable (John 12:47-50).
The Triune God: We believe God is triune, eternally existing as one in essence, yet in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; John 17, 16:26); and that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in all power and authority (John 6:27, 20:28, 16:14).
The Deity and Humanity of Christ: We believe Jesus the Son is the second person of the Trinity (Matthew 28:19, Luke 3:21-22, Acts 5:3-5); that Jesus is God incarnate, “God in the Flesh” (John 1:1, 14; Romans 9:5, Philippians 2:5-6); that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary as a real man and that He is fully God and fully Man (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 2:6-14; Galatians 4:4-5); that this birth made Him the perfect substitute and atoning sacrifice for our sins (Isaiah 53:6, 2 Corinthians 5:21); that Jesus rose up from the grave on the third day (Luke 24:39, I Corinthians 15:4); and that His resurrection is proof that all true believers will rise as well (I Corinthians 15:20, John 6:39).
The Creation and Fall of Humankind: We believe humankind was created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27, 2:7, 9:6), that Adam rebelled against God and passed sin to all humankind (Genesis 3, Romans 5:12-14), and that sin has ruined humankind and creation, resulting in spiritual lostness, death, and separation from God (Genesis 3, Romans 3:23, 5:12-21, 6:23, 7:18, 8:19-23; Ephesians 2:1-3).
The Salvation of the Lost: We believe salvation from sin comes by God’s grace through faith alone, on the sole basis of Jesus Christ’s atoning death and victorious resurrection (John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9, I Peter 3:18); that all who trust in Christ for salvation are forever declared justified in God’s sight; and that they will be progressively sanctified by the Word and the Spirit, and will ultimately be glorified (Romans 3:22-8:32, I Peter 1:3-5, John 5:24).
The Church: We Believe in one global Church under the headship of Jesus Christ and in the local church as the biblically ordained expression of the universal Church in localized assembly (Ephesians 1:22-23, 2:11-22, 4:1-16; Colossians 1:18), that the Church is made up of all those who have received new life through faith in Christ and are thereby indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 26:28, Luke 22:20, Acts 2:37-47, 6:14; Hebrews 9:15-28), and that Christ has commissioned the Church and the Spirit has empowered the Church to share the Gospel with the whole world (Matthew 28:19-20, John 20:21, Acts 1:8).
The Literal Return of Christ to Earth: We believe Jesus Christ will come back to earth the way He left, in order to judge the living and the dead (Acts 1:11, 17:30-31; I Thessalonians 4:13-18), and that the day of His return is not for us to know, but could happen at any moment (Mark 13:33-37, I Thessalonians 5:1-6).
The Future Judgment: We Believe God will assign people to their eternal destination in the last days (Daniel 12:2, John 5:28-29), that those who refuse God’s loving offer of salvation will be assigned to hell, a place of eternal torment and separation from relationship with God (Matthew 5:29-30, Luke 16:19-31, Revelation 20:10, 15), and only those who have placed their faith in God’s promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be assigned to heaven (John 14:1-2, Romans 4:1-8, Revelation 21:1-4). We believe Christ’s kingdom will never end and look forward to life in the world to come (Isaiah 65:17-25, Ezekial 47:12, Daniel 7:13-14, Revelation 21:1-22:6).

Thank you for your interest in Lenspiration, and taking the time to learn more about our mission and who we are. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask via the Contact Page!

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If you appreciate the mission of Lenspiration, we’d love to have your support! Sponsor a student, contribute money for prizes for the monthly photo assignments, or give towards the general costs of running the business.

More About James

I enjoy traveling, hiking, camping, researching, Ultimate Frisbee, family vacations, and exploring new places! You might enjoy this amazing map I've created of good places to photograph, complete with trail notes.

I love photography because I love being in the outdoors! It's a classroom for experimenting with composition, lighting, and techniques for emotional impact.

Did you know I specialize in conservative Christian wedding photography? Take a look at my wedding portfolio. If you like my style and are looking for a photographer to shoot your wedding, contact me to let me know!

Contact Page

Each year I create fine art wall calendars for both personal and business promotional use. Each template is available for other photographers to use to create their own fine art calendars too.

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Getting around to editing my autumn photos! It was a great year for color. A long season. Would love your critique! How would you have photographed this differently?
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