[6] On his retirement he transferred his collection of negatives of architectural and sculptural subjects to the Conway Library whose archive of photographs is in the process of being digitised as part of the Courtauld Connects project.

He worked for the National Trust, English Heritage, the Crafts Council, the Tate Gallery, Kettle's Yard in Cambridge and numerous other institutions, architects, artists, craftsmen and collectors.

[1][4] He continued working for the Sainsbury collection – on several exhibition catalogues and photographing new acquisitions – right up to his retirement in April 2004, keeping a studio and darkroom at Wysing Arts Centre from 1997 until then.

Mark Bridge pinpointed this in his review of the book in Antiques Trade Gazette when he wrote: "[James Austin] has managed to capture the elusive qualities of balance, texture and patina which make the finest tools a pleasure to handle, frequently lifting them into the realm of folk art".

[12] Wingfield Barns Arts Centre, Eye, Suffolk: solo exhibition of specially commissioned photographs, summer 2002 James Austin was a Fellow of the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) from 1977 to 1991.