About joseph
Baltimore City
Joseph graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology in 1983, and has since been based in Baltimore, 3 miles from his birthplace. Joseph has shown his work in many local venues, as well as at Denise Bibro Gallery, the Woodward Gallery, and the Edward Carter Gallery in NYC.
Joseph was awarded a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in 2007, 2009, and 2012, and is a 2007 Black Spider Award Nominee and his photographs are found in the following collections:
… more
Joseph was awarded a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Awards in 2007, 2009, and 2012, and is a 2007 Black Spider Award Nominee and his photographs are found in the following collections:
… more
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2018
I look to the landscape to find meaning and succor to the thoughts and feelings in my mind.
"I photograph things for what they are and for what else they are.” – Minor White
I've used the ten project spaces to share 100 images that belong together in a body of work called Mindscapes.
Most of the images were made in 2016, and I continue my use of tree imagery as a metaphor to survey an emotional landscape.
I've made use of names, descriptions, and alternate and title text spaces within this BakerArtist website to provide verbal cues as a point of departure for the interpretation of the images.
There are very few prints made of these images. In fact, most have never been printed. This is a conscious decision on my part to bring my creative practice into the 21st century as a greener, less consumptive, art expression. At this point in time, it seems unlikely that I will ever return to inks and paper or even traditional photographic processes.
Right now, this feels right.
"I photograph things for what they are and for what else they are.” – Minor White
I've used the ten project spaces to share 100 images that belong together in a body of work called Mindscapes.
Most of the images were made in 2016, and I continue my use of tree imagery as a metaphor to survey an emotional landscape.
I've made use of names, descriptions, and alternate and title text spaces within this BakerArtist website to provide verbal cues as a point of departure for the interpretation of the images.
There are very few prints made of these images. In fact, most have never been printed. This is a conscious decision on my part to bring my creative practice into the 21st century as a greener, less consumptive, art expression. At this point in time, it seems unlikely that I will ever return to inks and paper or even traditional photographic processes.
Right now, this feels right.
2018
In 2015, I started making stitched phone images and posting it to my social media pages. This was quite a departure from the traditional photography I was formally trained to perform, and the digital photography that I adopted because of marketplace pressures. This was supposed to be a hobby. But photography is not something I can do light-heartedly, and so I poured myself into it, as I have always done in my business and in my artwork, my other business.
The new practice did much more than provide an additional outlet for my creativity. It also called into question all of my previous behaviors. Suddenly I began to notice just how earth-unfriendly traditional photography was, and has always been. Chemicals, papers, inks, and copious amounts of water usage. I shudder now to think of just how consumptive my photography used to be.
I also began to question its efficacy, at least in relation to my creative objectives, which were to make photography a lifelong endeavor. To make images that had personal and hopefully universal relevance, to share them with as many people as possible, and somehow not to wreak havoc on the environment, or go broke in the process, these were my objectives.
Additionally, other things I've always wanted to let go of, but could not find an acceptable way. Framing, mattes, and glass always troubled me aesthetically and impoverished me financially. These had to go too. Fortunately social media was there to provide the venue for my pixels. And what a great venue. I run the gallery, and determine all the rules of engagement with my audience. How many artists enjoy that privilege?
The new practice did much more than provide an additional outlet for my creativity. It also called into question all of my previous behaviors. Suddenly I began to notice just how earth-unfriendly traditional photography was, and has always been. Chemicals, papers, inks, and copious amounts of water usage. I shudder now to think of just how consumptive my photography used to be.
I also began to question its efficacy, at least in relation to my creative objectives, which were to make photography a lifelong endeavor. To make images that had personal and hopefully universal relevance, to share them with as many people as possible, and somehow not to wreak havoc on the environment, or go broke in the process, these were my objectives.
Additionally, other things I've always wanted to let go of, but could not find an acceptable way. Framing, mattes, and glass always troubled me aesthetically and impoverished me financially. These had to go too. Fortunately social media was there to provide the venue for my pixels. And what a great venue. I run the gallery, and determine all the rules of engagement with my audience. How many artists enjoy that privilege?
2018
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celebrate your differentnesscelebrate your differentness
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a good loveI say a good love is one that casts you into the wind, sets you ablaze, makes you burn through the skies and ignite the night like a phoenix; the kind that cuts you loose like a wildfire and you can't stop running simply because you keep on burning everything that you touch! I say that's a good love; one that burns and flies, and you run with it! C. JoyBell C.
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a few secrets you're too terrified to tellHave you got a few secrets you're too terrified to tell? Lovely, lay them on me, cause I've got a few of my own, as well....
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Sycamore
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Night Vision
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Lingering Hope
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Blue Ghost
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resurrection
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White Night
2017
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Crippled Inside
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Tombstone Tree
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BackDraft
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a singular love that roots his heart makes him invincibleThe forces of desire that sway man's mind are the forces that will eventually destroy him, while a singular love that roots his heart makes him invincible. Prabhukrishna M
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FanfareFanfare
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the clatter and clinks of fame“If you desire the path of sincerity, develop a love for obscurity. Flee from the clatter and clinks of fame. Be like the roots of a tree; it keeps the tree upright and gives it life, but it itself is hidden underneath the earth and eyes cannot see it.” ― Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak
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the best of you remains lovely to methe best of you remains lovely to me
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experts at letting things goI realise there's something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they're experts at letting things go. Jeffrey McDaniel
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My thoughts all seem to stray to places far awayCreature comfort goals, they only numb my soul and make it hard for me to see. My thoughts all seem to stray to places far away I need a change of scenery. Carole King & Gerry Goffin Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
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the fragrance of your disappearancethe fragrance of your disappearance
2016
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FatigueFatigue
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Start All OverStart All Over
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it's the darkness in between that fixes me in this placeWhile I know there is light at the end of this road, it's the darkness in between that fixes me in this place.
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Shade From BluesShade From Blues
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I keep my light close against my skinwhen the nights get long
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BridaloneBridalone
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The Desires of Mary
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Oak Mistral
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There is society, where none intrudesThere is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more George Gordon Byron
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Electric Tree
2016
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Domestic Argumentwith child
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Latent Memoryof seasons past
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Feeding FrenzyFeeding Frenzy
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JaundiceJaundice
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Warm Place WithinWarm Place Within
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Wounded WarriorWounded Warrior
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GraceI think this tree had expectations of himself that exceeded his ability to realize. Had it not been for the power company, he might have risen to a stately height.
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CalamityIn middle school, I loved it when the teacher was out of the room and all order and decorum devolved into a raucous mayhem. At those times, I took great pleasure in my spectatordom, delighting in the craziness all around me, without having to risk the consequences of participation.
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Silent SpringI found this dying tree on a road to Odessa, NY doing its level best to keep up appearances in its Spring attire and in good color. I'm sure this tree enjoyed a lot of beautiful Summers, but I do not expect to find this tree among the standing on my next journey to Ithaca.
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So CloseAt the base of Mammoth mountain, on the north shore of Horseshoe Lake, this tree was one of thousands who fell from carbon dioxide poisoning from nearby volcanic activity. One of those times Nature eats its own.
2015
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Sheltered ExistenceSheltered Existence
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Loss of SignificanceLoss of Significance
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Grown ApartCouples are something that I'm forever on the lookout for. For these two, there is little left to share, and yet they remain together.
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Three Sun Tree
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Unsolicited AttentionEverybody has been there.
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Corporate AssasinI made this image above the Towson Commons on a foggy evening in January. It's perhaps the most successful of my nature vs. man images. I imagine this tree engaged in some subversive act against a culture of corporate domination.
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Self-AbsorptionIn an all out attempt to merge fiction with fact, this one has fallen into the image of its own reflection.
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EpiphanyEpiphany
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Peace PilgrimageI captured this fellow on my fifth try, in a very wet and rapidly lifting fog, and I'm glad I did. A week later it had found a lasting peace laying in pieces on the ground. For Mildred Norman Ryder
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Another Giving Treefor Shel Silverstein.
2015
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I have two minds within meand the difficulty of merging them
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Personal heartwoodis this notion that deep within me
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I have this shape in mindthat I've made into an aspiration
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I had this big ideaat least I tried to make it so
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There are some days I want to lingerand play and play away
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It's this feeling of Fleetingnessthe ephemeral nature of life
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I can tell by the pricking in my thumbsthat something wicked
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I'm always breaking downand always in perfect weather
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There should be strict limitsplaced upon carried dissappointments
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I have these dreams about flyingbut I'm too heavy to stay aloft
2014
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becoming-consciousbecoming-conscious
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Moon TreeMoon Tree
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To be a lantern in the darkness, or an umbrella in a stormy dayTo be a lantern in the darkness, or an umbrella in a stormy day
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You've always been strange to meand I wonder what goes on in your head
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We had a good thing goingI took some hits along the way
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You're constant attentionis so suffocating to me
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I live in this valley of shadowsIt's all that I ever known
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I'm looking for some kind of eldersomeone who I trust can detect
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I'm struck that so many that are waitingfor someone to save them from strife
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the faculty of wonderthe faculty of wonder