James Baker Hall (b. 1935) is a prolific artist based in the American South. Significantly known for his work as a writer, he is a former Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the recipient of O. Henry and Pushcart Prizes, NEA fellowships, and the author of many collections of poetry and fiction.

During this time he has been equally as prolific in photography. He has lectured widely on photography in such places as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design, and the Minneapolis Museum of Art, is a former contributing editor for Aperture, and has published three collections of photographs and two monographs. He is also one of the last living members of the famed Lexington Camera Club and the close colleague of such photographers as Minor White, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, and Richard Benson.

Due to the public exigencies of his literary career, he has chosen to work largely in solitude as a photographer. The James Baker Hall archive holds decades of work, thousands of images, much of it yet unseen.