Rushforth has gained significant professional merits as a photographer and also as a writer. His Iceland photo-location guidebook series won the Travel/Photography category of the Best Indie Book Awards (BIPA),[6] whilst his book series on the Dolomites[2] have been favored by several reviewers.[7][8][9] Two of his publications were shortlisted as finalists for the Guidebook category at the Banff Mountain Book Festival in 2015 and 2017.[10][11]
Rushforth was consecutively named in 2018, 2019, and 2020 as Photographer of the Year by the British Guild of Travel Writers.[12][13][14] Rushforth has participated as an invited judge at photo contests, such as those by Viewbug[15] and the Australian Society of Travel Writers.[16] An extensive interview with the author was published in 2019.[17]
Works
Books
Rushforth, James, (2014). The Dolomites – Rock Climbs and Via Ferrata. Rockfax Ltd. ISBN978-1-873341-97-1.[18]
Rushforth, James, (2017). Photographing the Dolomites – A travel & photo-location guidebook. Fotovue Ltd.. ISBN978-0-9929051-6-3.[19]
Rushforth, James, (2017). Ski Touring And Snowshoeing In The Dolomites – 50 Winter Routes. Cicerone Press. ISBN978-1-85284-745-6.[20]
Rushforth, James, (2018). Via Ferratas of the Italian Dolomites Volume 1. Cicerone Press. ISBN978-1-85284-846-0.[21]
Several of Rushforth's images have been featured in newspapers including The Guardian,[24] The Times,[25] The Mirror,[26] and The Telegraph, where they have twice been selected among the Pictures of the Day.[27][28] In 2019 National Geographic included his "sailing image in Greenland" amongst their favourite out of 10 million.[29]
Photos taken by Rushforth that have been honored at contests include:
The image Sunset at the Tre Cime was doubly awarded at the 2014/2015 Marmot Photography Award, the jury described the work as "technically impeccable, spot-on composition and exposure, and real depth".[30]
At the Lucie Awards (IPA), Honorable mentions were adjudicated to the pieces Mary's Shell by Night (Night Photography, 2016), Haifoss Sunset (Landscape, 2018),[32] and Highlining in the Dolomites (Extreme Sport, 2018).
Making the exposed traverse on pitch 4 of ‘Via ‘Myriam’ earned the author First place in the Digital Splash Photographer of the Year 2018 competition, simultaneously with first places in the sport and landscape categories.[33][34]
Dreaming of Iceland received Silver Prize at the Tokyo Photo Awards, 2018.[35]
Crater Row saw Rushforth awarded at the International Landscape Photographer of the Year in 2019,[36] gained him second place in the drone category of the 2019 International Photo Awards,[37] and won Drone Photographer 2020 at the British Photography Awards competition.[38]
The image Not your regular crevasse has been repeatedly awarded with prizes, including the Marmot Photography Awards in 2018 (Winner of the Expedition Category),[39] the Bronze prize in Nature/Earth at the PX3 – Prix de la Photographie in Paris, 2019,[40] and the IPA Award 2018 (Special and Travel / Tourism category winners).[41]
Comet Neowise over Stonehenge was the runner up in the Historic Britain category of the Landscape Photographer of the Year,[42] a finalist in the 2021 Astronomy Photographer of the Year and Sony World Photo Awards,[43] and received a double gold at the 2021 Le Prix de la Photographie de Paris Awards (PX3), in both the travel and night categories.[44]
A five image Dolomites portfolio won first place at the 2020 GTMA Global Travel Awards.[45]
His extreme sport themed storyboard "European adventurous travel” submitted to the Outdoor Writers & Photographers Guild led Rushforth to win the 2021 Photographer of the Year Award.[46]