Joey L. is a Canadian-born photographer and director based
in Brooklyn, New York. Since the age of 18, Joey’s work has been consistently
sought out by a number of prominent advertising clients, including Lavazza for their
2016 calendar, National Geographic Channel, U.S. Army, Canon, Jose Cuervo,
Summit Entertainment, History Channel, The Government of Abu Dhabi, and many
others. He has photographed a number of recognizable faces including Robert De
Niro, Danny DeVito, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, John Legend, Dylan
McDermott, Karlie Kloss, Author John Green, and two-time Olympic gold medalist
Gabby Douglas to name a few. His work is regularly seen in magazines, subway
advertisements, and billboards.
Joey L. is an entirely new breed of photographer who brings
photojournalism to the fine art arena. The dignity and beauty that he
portrays in peoples of rapidly vanishing cultures are incredibly
important in getting their message out to the world.
His own curiosity for different ways of living have brought
him to new and unfamiliar territories—from areas as far away as the holy lands
of Varanasi—a trip that he first took as a teenager, which served as the
catalyst for the self-titled film and foundation for his ongoing Holy Men
series—to culturally-distinct neighborhoods tucked away between the
graffitied-streets of Brooklyn—as depicted by his annual pilgrimage to document
Halloween in Brooklyn—a favorite personal project. A firm believer in fostering
creativity and fulfillment through personal pursuits, Joey wrote and directed
his first scripted film entitled People of the Delta. The film not only
featured members of the Daasanach and Hamar groups of Southern Ethiopia as the
actors, but also collaborated with many of them for creative input throughout
the entire film.
Joey and his team maintain a quirky web series aptly named
Dudes with Cameras, inspired by his humorous behind-the-scenes escapades on
shoots—giving viewers a look into how unpredictable and entertaining life on
set can be. The birds-eye-view of his photography methods—whether it be through
his blog, tutorials, or videos—demonstrates that it’s not always the technique
that makes a good photograph, but one’s personal connection to the subjects—as
well as the client—that truly makes an image resonate.
Most recently, Joey traveled twice to the Kurdish regions of
Iraq and Syria to document the volunteer fighters of the PKK and YPG. The new
series, Guerrilla Fighters of Kurdistan, highlight the men and women on the
frontline of the ongoing conflict with ISIS—a war that is headlined daily but
now humanized through Joey’s enlightening portraits. The project was featured
in Vanity Fair: Italia, Internazionale and ran as The Independent's Saturday
Magazine cover story.
Joey has been listed as one of the “Most Influential
Photographers on Social Media”; Complex Magazine named him one of the “30
Photographers under 30 to Watch”; and he has been recently featured in London’s
National Portrait Gallery as part of the Taylor Wessing Prize exhibition.
You can reach him on www.facebook.com/Joey Lawrence or www.joeyl.com
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