We were lucky to catch up with Joseph Holden recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Joseph thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

Photography is more of a gift to me than something I had to learn; now yes, I had to learn how to use a camera and other equipment, but with background around technology I learned all of it quite quickly. With the knowledge I have now I think I learned in the quickest way I could give the situation I was in; but if I were teaching someone else I would tell them: get a camera you can easily carry with you wherever you go, and make an effort to take your camera wherever you can, because you never know when you’ll find the perfect shot.

The most important skill I have as a photographer is an appreciation for what’s around me, and as dumb as that sounds it’s the truth. Alot of people spend their day in almost a sub-conscious way, only interested in whatever their end goal is, main examples being the paycheck they get at the end of the week of the club they spend their weekends at… maybe even the 3-day vacation planned 6 months away. This mindset that so many people have often caused them to be completely oblivious to the world around them. My biggest obstacle even now is the fact that I don’t have my driver’s license yet. And this is really only an issue because of where I live. I don’t really have anything other than a small periodically maintained nature park within biking distance of me, and with that my whole town is really just not that interesting… even to someone like me with a critical eye.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

So, for those who don’t know me already, my name is Joseph Holden, and I am a semi-professional photographer. Right now, I specialize in street and event photography but starting sometime soon I’m going to start doing portrait photography as a full-time job (well… if I can enough money in a month). I’ve probably already said this but what I’m most proud of is the fact that I’ve gone from a beginner phone photographer to a (and this is a backed opinion) professional photographer that specializes in most fields of photography. I can’t really speak for my clients and the people who view my content, but from the things I have heard from the people I know they are all impressed with what I provide. There’s not really anything special I want people to know, other than the fact up until later this year I have never taken my camera outside of Texas, so that goes to show my limitations, I guess.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Being honest just advertise us more, I have had a lot of people who say they really enjoy my work and that talk about how they like the idea of supporting small creators, but then usually they don’t do anything to actually advertise my work and get it out there which is somewhat discouraging and definitely not getting me anywhere career wise.
I also think it would be cool if bigger companies gave small creators more opportunities to work with them, and I know a lot of people tend to not like sponsor work, but in my eyes, it gives creators like me a better chance to actually excel in what I do (as well as give me a reason to). On top of that if my content is successful, I’d be selling a product… and if it’s not then the company can take the product back and move on to the next person.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My main goal right now is building up an audience, my skill can progress as I go given the rate I’ve progressed at already. But back on audience, right now I only have 3.5k followers on Instagram and a little over 500 subscribers on YouTube. These are quite the low number and aren’t really getting me anywhere, but I know that if I continue making videos and taking my camera out consistently my content will progressively gain production quality and eventually reach my desired audience (which will provide me with an income for my future plans).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sites.google.com/view/joseph-h-photography
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joseph58tech/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Holden/pfbid04ENFK6zzLmAHxGDLwjCfQGHXCmmeQ1yeD9zEHcJeopQfzNAi2jSu4Jxgam1fpFgKl/
• Twitter: https://x.com/Joseph58tech1
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@joseph58tech

Image Credits

All images captured by me in January of 2025.