Van Camp, Jack (1953-) | University of Illinois Archives

Jack Van Camp (1953-) from Danville, IL has been a photographer since the 1970s. Initially a nature photographer who was also an avid blues fan, Van Camp began taking his camera to blues shows in the Champaign, IL area in the mid-1990s. Influenced by jazz photographer Herman Leonard, he shot in a similar style but used 35mm film and natural light as opposed to the staging and artifical lighting often used by Leonard.

Van Camp often collaborated with David Nolan, a self-taught photographer also from Danville, while shooting blues shows in the area, as well as on two blues photography exhibits.