ARTIST JOE GRIFFIN - OBSERVATION. PRESENCE. COMMUNITY.

Joe Griffin’s creative life began with motion. As a kid, he and his brother filmed stories on a Hi8 camcorder, chasing light, inventing scenes, and learning how to frame the world through movement.

That instinct to observe, compose, and distill; would eventually guide him to the still image. It happened during a black-and-white photography class at Columbia College Chicago, taken to fulfill a graduation requirement. What began as coursework became a calling. “Little did I know,” he says, “this would start me down a path of

photography as a passion.”

Film introduced a new rhythm. It slowed things down. It demanded presence and rewarded patience. “It’s almost always shrouded in a bit of uncertainty after you trip the shutter,” Joe says. “But its unforgiving nature will make you a better photographer.” With every roll, he sharpened his attention, not just to composition, but to emotional

texture.

"Film is an experience. Sometimes it’s heartbreak“ Joe Griffin