Joel was born in Ohio, but has lived in southern California since the early age of 3. Photography came into his life while attending Cypress College in the early 70’s.

After college, Joel went to work for the United States Postal Service and helped start the Art Department for the Santa Ana P&DC. He has won many awards for his work as well as inclusion in the Permanent Collection of the Library of Congress.

For nearly 40 years, Joel has been photographing in the tradition of the West Coast photographers who were active in the first half of the 20th Century. He is especially inspired by the work of photo pioneers Edward Weston and Imogen Cunningham, while Jock Sturges’ work of the last 30 years has also been a large influence.

Joel’s equipment consists of a medium format camera, and an 8×10 large-format wooden camera shooting black & white film. He does his own film processing & printing in the “wet darkroom” tradition. No computer or digital manipulation is used.

Joel continues to photograph people and places that compel him to create a photograph.