After meeting photographer Josh Sanseri I would say that the future of photography is in good hands. Josh is not only a photographer with over 20 years of professional experience, but he is a tenured professor and department chair of Santa Monica College’s esteemed Photography Department – a program that is a Red River Paper EDU partner which we also talk about during the show. He’s taught courses at UCLA, Art Center College of Design, UCSD, the Santa Fe Workshops in New Mexico, the Julia Dean Workshops in Los Angeles, and the Venice School of Photography in Italy. Josh knows photography, and along with his education background he puts that knowledge to great use in his own work.

Josh describes his passion as “creatively illustrating people’s character, using their unique everyday life as the backdrop”. That is an interesting line to me. As photographers we all try to tell a story, to try to convey more than the image itself, but illustrating people’s character is such a cool approach, and it shows in his portraits.

Josh’s fine art approach to photographing people was generated while earning a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema & Photography and a Master of Fine Arts in Art — both from Southern Illinois University. His photographs are often described as equal parts fine art and technical proficiency. He achieves that balance using a solid understanding of light, composition, and the ability to relate to his subjects without relying on gimmicks or the latest software plugin to make successful photographs. That is refreshing.

Josh has been an official photographer for Outside Lands and Treasure Island Music Festivals since they began in 2007 & 2008. As the festivals’ exclusive and official portrait photographer, he’s photographed hundreds of musicians backstage including Henry Rollins, Janelle Monae, Lucinda Williams, The Flaming Lips, Billy Idol, Death Cab For Cutie, Phoenix, Tom Morello, Chuck D, Big Boi, Diplo, Kings of  Leon, Deadmau5, and many more. He has also photographed many executives including the president of Dreamworks Animation, the CEO of ING, the executive warden of New Mexico State Penitentiary, and the CEO of One Legacy. His work has appeared in such publications as Billboard Magazine, Rolling Stone, Relix, Thrasher, Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Business Week, to name a few.

Join me as I sit down to chat with Southern California photographer and educator Josh Santeri about one of his creative portraits of the band Fun, on this episode of Behind the Shot.

Personal: sansei.com

Photography Program: SMC.edu

Premium Photo Paper Catalog: redrivercatalog.com