We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Joshua Haller a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Joshua, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Personal projects have created the most meaning for me. They have led me to the remote regions of Tibet, all over the city I called home (Beijing) and out of the darkness the killed my creativity during the pandemic.

If I were forced to pick one, I would pick the one I’m currently working on. Its called ‘Listening to the Water’. It has led me to get up very early in the morning or stay up into the dark hours of night. I first started this project as a way to remind myself that I ‘still had it’ as a photographer. I had gotten away from my camera during the pandemic and had very little desire to pick it up due to the creative funk I was in.

In the spring of 2023, I decided I would start biking at sunrise or sunset to take long exposures of the waters around me. I have long loved the way long exposures create a dreamy feel to moving waters. I didn’t quite have a goal in mind, I just knew I needed to create something that gave me life. One day, as I was getting frustrated that the shots I was getting weren’t what I wanted. In the midst of that frustration, I started to just listen to the water on the shore. There was a peace found in that morning that kept me going. As this project has continued it has became as much about finding peace than taking the photos.

Joshua, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a self taught photographer who spent most of my life living in China. I picked up a camera to take photos of friends in high school before we scattered to the corners of the world when we graduated. I kept taking photos and started to build my portfolio by covering events. I then expanded to portraits, weddings and travel/landscape photography. I started shooting for a Chinese magazine (China Photo) and would travel around the country on photography trips. I then started to fund my own trips to Tibet in the hopes of teaching photography workshops there. Due to the pandemic, that got scrapped but I did start teaching photography workshops in Beijing before I moved away.

Recently I have been focusing on my fine art photography and increasing sales of my art pieces.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I think NFTs get a bad rap due to bad behavior of some people. Now, those people do seem to have a lot of influence in the NFT space and there’s a number of people who try to latch on to those trends. However, I have found a majority of the NFT artists to be really supportive of each other. Most of my favorite fellow artists happen to do NFTs but I do not feel that defines who they are as an artist. NFTs are the means to get their artwork out. At times, the grind to just get seen as an NFT artist is tiresome. However, I think its just part of the reality of being an artist. You don’t have to do it but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The selfish part of me wants to be able to make a living as an artist. I was before the pandemic and I know I can again. But its more than that. There’s something about sharing work that connects with people and lets them forget about the worries of life. I often print off my photos to take to a local cafe so that I can share them with my friends and new friends. I know that the photos I take can help people find beauty in places they didn’t expect to. This gives me much joy and makes it more than just about me taking photos. I am always wanting to connect people with my work and it’s very rewarding when I’m able to do that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.joshuajhaller.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuajohnhaller/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshuajhallerphotos/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuajhaller/
• Twitter: https://x.com/jpixtwit

Image Credits

All images taken by Joshua Haller