Jim Meads' Pals
What His Pals Say About Him...
Jim Meads' latest book Going Home (£30) is published by Quiller (ISBN: 9781846890413).
To order call 01939 261616. Please quote ‘HSBS’.
Ginni Beard
Ginni Beard
Hound photographer.
“I’ve known Jim Meads for many years, and we have grown in that time be a couple of white haired old gits!
"This is a man who is of an age when most people are in a rest home passing the time by complaining about the change of hour, the quality of lunch, and the way zimmer frames catch on table legs. But thankfully Jim Meads is still there with his camera, bringing us those precious pictures. Age has not interfered with his enthusiasm, and wonderful photographs. The chase forever summons him, and his camera is not often resting in its case.
"The resultant photographs are an endless joy for those of us who stayed in the warmth of home or car. In 'Going Home' there are 65 packs represented from Britain, 11 from Ireland, and 42 from America and Canada. The Credit Crunch seems to have been forgotten by those who have laid hands on a copy. Will Jim now relax at home, or, was that the sound of a distant horn...?"
Mason Lampton MFH
Midland Foxhounds in the US
“Jim Meads has brought foxhunting together across the world as one community. He is "The Ambassador to the Chase". Enjoy his book as it will excite you to meet fellow foxhunters from afar. You will want to share your passion with them. Furthermore, thank Jim for contributing all of his work to the MFHA. That is a treasure that immortalizes our time and the people that have made hunting possible. Have a Merry Christmas, and buy this great work."
Masters of Foxhounds of North America
Lt. Col. Dennis J. Foster MFH - Executive Director
"Jim Meads is the hunting world’s most popular and greatest hunting photographer. His new book is the best he has ever done. His skill as a photographer in capturing hunting's greatest moments is unsurpassed. He is equivalent to a rock star in the US and Canada. Everywhere he goes he draws foxhunters who want his autograph or for him to sign a book.
"Remarkably at the ripe old age of 78 he is still going strong and able to keep up with hunts on foot when hounds and horses are flying. I'm sure it's because of his vast knowledge of hunting and keeping in excellent shape. I consider it an honor to be his friend and we should all be grateful for all his contributions to this great sport."
Mrs Edna Philps MH
Edna Philps
Joint-Master and Huntsman of the De Burgh and North Essex Harehounds (Bassets)
"At Peterborough 2008 we had a good day, the weather was ideal for everyone and there was a good crowd. So many people but I was particularly glad to bump into Jim Meads whose final publication comes out this autumn. An amazing man who never forgets a face, is a great ambassador for hunting too in all the wonderful material he has produced over the years. I can't believe you are going to retire Jim, please don't."
Alun Thomas MH
Alun Thomas
Master and Huntsman of the Taunton Vale Harriers
“When I was terrierman at the David Davies I remember a particularly good scenting day and recall seeing the very tall, lean Jim, camera bouncing about his neck, running behind hounds in full cry - over a bridge. Jim comes from Carno, and the David Davies is his local pack. Alun adds: “You know you have 'arrived' when Jim takes your picture. But the ones we truly treasure are not a pictures of ourselves, but of a champion TVH harrier on the slab at Peterborough, many years later. Jim's book is already on my Christmas List."
Claire Logan-Stephens
Claire Logan-Stephens
Chairman of Rydal Hound Show
"A good book to buy for Christmas is “Going Home” by Jim Meads. If you have read any of Jim’s previous books, you will know you are in for a real treat. “Going Home” features stunning photography of hunting from home and abroad and is a book to cherish and revisit time and again. A book which captures both amazing moments from being in the right place at the right time, and is sure to make you smile for its dry humour.
"This is a book which won’t gather dust on the bookshelf, but will take pride of place on the coffee table. “Going Home” includes sections on heroes, hunt staff and nostalgia and captures the atmosphere and camaraderie of hunting.
"I am fortunate enough to know Jim personally from his numerous visits to Rydal Hound Show. Jim is the world’s foremost hunting photographer. I know Jim is also one of the most popular men in the hunting world - respected for his professionalism and incredible knowledge having photographed, judged and hunted with all types of hounds covering a wide variety terrain."
Martin Letts
Senior MFH of the College Valley & North Northumberland
"The Meads family have been hunting enthusiasts and photographers for two generations. It is hardly surprising Jim is as knowledgeable on the intricacies of the sport - as any in the game. He has a quick eye for the detail in the hunting field, and the conformation of the hound: his photographs on both showing and hunting stand out above all his rivals."
Edmund Porter
Edmund Porter
Joint-Master and Huntsman of the Eskdale and Ennerdale, and Chairman of the Central Committee of Fell Packs
"Jim Meads has been about as long as I can remember, and he’s hunting with us quite a lot: he could really run the fells. Jim is very well liked wherever he goes, and is friends with everybody, and always comes to Rydal Hound Show. He’ll have seen many different types of hounds at work in all types of terrain. A great man for hunting."
David Jones MFH
Former Huntsman (35 yrs), and now Joint-Master, of the David Davies in Wales. Jim lives in their hunt country.
"Jim is one of the fittest men I have ever known. Bloody hell! I remember the first time he came out with us, we ran to ground - and then bolted the fox which went straight up the hill - which is about 2 in 1 - and Jim just ran straight over the top. He was such a fit guy - he never stopped. Ten years later he moved here.
"Very knowledge on hunting, he was always in the right spot to get that special picture. He is without doubt a brilliant photographer - he’s the best sporting photographer in the world. And he’s served hunting so well."
Charmian Green
"The hunting fraternity on both sides of the Atlantic have been so fortunate to benefit from the incredible photographic skills of Jim Meads. His ability to be in the right place to catch a shot of a hunted fox or of a spectacular fall are unsurpassed. He is the Lionel Edwards of hunting photography."
Henrietta Knight
Top racehorse trainer, married to former champion jump jockey (1965-66-69) Terry Biddlecombe.
Henrietta said: “Terry kept wicket for Jim on many occasions and says he was a superb fast bowler, and a real character. He was a very fit man. Terry says you could never wish to meet a better man.
“I have lots of memories of Jim in the days when I hunted in Ireland. I hunted with the Limerick, the Tipperary and the ‘Black and Tans’ (Scarteen) in the 1970s-80s and had some wonderful horses to hunt.
“There were some great days with Jim out on foot: he would run alongside us and was always in the right place when people were jumping off the banks. I remember him very well, and not least back in the pubs afterwards.
“A great character, and a great spirit raiser. And so fit: he would run across the heavy ground in Ireland - seemingly without even a sweat. An amazing man.”
On the Legend: Jim Meads by Lauren Giannini
Orignally for In and Around Horse Country
Jim with Marion Maggiolo
The legendary English photographer has spent his life on the run – after hounds, that is. Clad in his signature attire of running shoes with socks pulled over trouser legs to his knees, green waterproof jacket, and wool cap covering his cranium, he navigates hill and dale, moor and mountain as he pursues the chase around the world.
Meads’ special talent is being in the right place at the right time. Something extra he possesses teams up with those long legs so that he ends up in the perfect situation to press the shutter. Sometimes it’s where fox and coyote go to ground or where a bobcat might climb a tree, twitching a tail disdainfully while taunting hounds.
His images of hounds hacking to and from covert, working the line, and running in full cry are eloquent statements about the connection between huntsman and pack, between the modern manifestation of ‘ars venatica’ and ancient natural rites.
Meads ferrets out scenic and trappy obstacles encountered by the mounted field, framing them for posterity. His books are filled with images of horses and riders as they gallop up and down steep hillsides, crossing streams and rivers, leaping hedges, ditches, drops and solid timber hunting panels.
He learned his art at an early age from his father, a staff photographer for Country Life magazine (UK). After catching the ‘shutter-bug,’ he never tried to recover from it. Over the years – for the sake of dignity, he’s a few shy of four score – his camera has taken him around the hunting world many times, even to the Olympics in Seoul. He has amassed a treasury of photos; hence, the books.
Jim with two of his fans - two birds he’d like to get into a bush!
Horse Country Saddlery, as the exclusive North American distributor, launched “Going Home” on October 24 with a book signing in Warrenton. Meads inscribed and signed for the better part of three working days and at the launch penned until late on Friday evening. People couldn’t get in the door for the line of waiting fans, but the refreshment tent outside handled the overload just fine. Fans arrived from Nevada, Florida, Texas, North Carolina
“What I love most about Jim is his energy,” says Marion Maggiolo. “He’s such a professional: so willing to get on a plane and fly over. When he visits, he’s charming – full of good stories about people in the hunting world. I first met him when he came into Horse Country with Jerry Miller, master of Iroquois, 10 or 11 years ago, and I’ve handled the American book sales for the last three books.”
It was one of those serendipitous networking moments. Miller knew Marion and Meads – “ a helluva nice guy” - and thought that they were two people really ought to get acquainted.
“Jim always catered to the kind of people who had $3,000 to $5,000 custom jackets and boots, and he would sell them his books,” recalls Miller. “Marion had hundreds, if not a couple thousand people she had dressed for hunting or who bought stuff from her.
"I kept telling Jim: ‘This woman can sell your books.’ Then, there was the other side: I told Marion ‘there’s this guy who has coffee table books and you have a lot of people who would like to have those books’… If you want to dress like the finest people in England, you can do that at Marion’s for a fraction of the cost. I told Jim – ‘this woman is who you need to be up with.’
"There were both, yeah, yeah. Finally, one day Jim was in Virginia and I was up there too. I took him into Horse Country - Marion and Jim hit it off.” So well that Meads dedicated “Going Home” to Marion and to Horse Country and the staff.
It heralds the end of an era: Meads claims that this fifth is also his final book. However, enthusiasts on both sides of the Atlantic wonder if the tall, lean Englishman might have something up his green waterproof jacket’s sleeve. He says no, but with that twinkle in his eyes, we have to wonder…
At the book signing, Meads quipped that the likely sequel would be “Gone To Ground” but we think that he ought to write some stories and anecdotes about the people and sport and rural lifestyles. After all, he’s been shooting them longer than many mere mortals get to live. Jim Meads really is a legend.