Joseph has had a camera in his hand, as he’s been overheard to say, since he was “knee high to a bug”. His first SLR was a Yashica FX-3 which his father gave him at the age of seven, but even before that he could be found wandering the streets of Madrid snapping pictures of puddles with a 110 camera. Constantly admiring his fathers own fascination with photography — his home darkroom, his Contax camera and Zeiss* lenses, and the occasionally breaking-out of “the big camera”, the Mamiya 645 — an interest in photography was inevitable. By high school he graduated to Nikon and became the class historian, yearbook photo editor, and a shooter for the school paper. After high school he was accepted as one of only three incoming freshman to the Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Art & Design/Photography program in 1991, based not only on academics but also on a thorough portfolio review. Studying under the esteemed Mark Kauffman until his passing in 1994, Joseph graduated in 1996 with a degree in photography and… put his camera down. After shooting for 18 years, he changed direction and decided to pursue a career in computers and photoimaging software. Through this he found a skill in performing live presentations, and has traveled the world representing various technologies and companies on stage, including MetaCreations, Wacom, Corel, and ultimately, Apple.

At Apple, Joseph’s interest in photography re-emerged with the development of Aperture. As part of the pre-release marketing team, he started shooting again in 2005 — now digitally with Canon dSLR’s — and re-discovered his love for the art. Hundreds of thousands of frames later, he had found a new a passion for the one type of photography he never had much exposure to before; photojournalism. The ability to tell a story through the lens became the cornerstone for his resurgence in photography. When he covered the bicycle Race Across America (RAAM) in 2006 for Team Type 1 — an all-diabetic race team, where he shot and blogged the entire race cross-country — in reading the blog comments he had a sudden realization that his pictures could have a personal impact; they could actually make a difference. As his work schedule permitted, he volunteered his time to photograph significant events or stories as they happen — locally and around the world — including a two-week trip in 2007 to Kenya with the International Humanity Foundation to document their work housing, feeding and educating orphans and other children in the Rift Valley.

Meanwhile his photographic responsibilities at Apple expanded, as he produced and shot several productions for iLife, Aperture and Final Cut Studio, including a Ducati “commerical”, the Pipeline Masters surf competition in Hawaii, and celebrity artist portraits for the GarageBand Artist Lessons. He also continued to travel as the head presenter, speaking for Apple at tradeshows and roadshows around the globe. Finally in 2009 the time came to step out on his own to pursue other opportunities.

Today, Joseph is shooting for a variety of clients, involved in a video and film projects in Hollywood, and keeping a sharp eye on the ever-nearing convergence of moving and still photography. Finally, not being able to give up the stage completely, he’s also involved in seminars and lectures on Aperture and Photography when time permits.