WHO TO FOLLOW: The masterful photographic stylings of @waitlisted
Ricardo SimeIf you’re a New York City watch collector and have attended any watch event in the past two years, chances are you’ve met this week’s follow. He’s a quiet photographer whose images breathe fresh air into the repetitive soldier shots of watch adverts. His use of colour, reflections and an absolute mastery of the macro lens are quite shocking when you realise he has only been doing this for the last two to three years. Rumour has it that he has also added a tilt shift lens to the repertoire (My eyes are already getting hungry). He is the one, the only, James – better known to the Instagram universe as @waitlisted
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James has been a mainstay of the watch community in New York throughout the pandemic. You’ll often find him moving around the room, capturing a collector in a candid moment, a reaction of awe frozen on their face. It was during one of these “hunts” that I finally introduced myself to him. For months, we had communicated through Clubhouse yet now I got a chance to see him shoot. From the equipment, to the stance, as well as the concentration, the guy just knows how to capture a good shot. All of this while never interfering with the action.
When I decided to feature him for this weeks follow, I asked James about how he got into this hobby; both the watches and the equally addictive world of photography. Here’s what he said:
“Like many in this hobby, I have two intractable traits that are rather dangerous for my bank account: a tendency to fall quickly and deeply into rabbit holes and a compulsive urge to collect things that I’m interested in. Growing up, I went through many of the usual phases for a suburban ’90s kid: a trading card obsession, pogs, Pokemon, video game cartridges, and on and on. Perhaps it was inevitable that one day I would fall into watches, though I can’t pinpoint a single precipitating event, or remember exactly how or when it happened.
“All I know is that at some point early in the last decade I started voraciously reading watch forums, and that’s how everything started. It would be another couple of years before I worked up the courage (and funds) to actually walk into a boutique and buy a watch, but from then on it spiralled: more watches, then going to watch meetups, then starting an Instagram account, then the desire to take better photos of my watches, then falling down the complementary (and perhaps even deeper) rabbit hole of photography, and on and on, until here I am today.”
As a witness to this growth in photography, it truly has been a sight to behold. The amount of detail James catches with his watch shots has grown significantly in only the last 12 months. It’s caught the attention of brands like MB&F and Greubel Forsey, culminating in a recent once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Vallée de Joux.
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One thing I’ve found so interesting about James, beyond his F.P.Journe Chronometre Blue and his expanding collection of Mings, is how camera-shy he is. For someone who has really blazed his own path in watch photography and whose talents have led to freelance work with major outlets, it’s the last thing I would have expected. But then again, I realise where all his attention is and where he wants it to be. And that is on any watch lucky enough to find itself placed in front of his lens.