October 30, 2018

Check out Joshua Taff’s Artwork

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Taff.

Joshua, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
When I was around six or seven, while visiting my Grandparents in Colorado, I was given a Kodak Ektralite 110 camera. That day, we were headed to watch the rodeo. When the rodeo was over, I had finished the roll of film and on the way home, we dropped it off at a one hour photo and I couldn’t wait to see the pictures. I’ve still got a few prints and they are actually not terribly composed for a kid that age.

I gravitated toward writing in high school, but returned to photo in college and getting into the darkroom was the exact same feeling that I felt when I got the film back from that rodeo. I was back in love instantly and for the last 20 years, I’ve never drifted far from that feeling.

We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I’ve been called a generalist by more than one art director because I simply enjoy making images and enjoy the challenge of getting outside of my comfort zone. Portraits, environmental portraits & landscapes are my strong suits.

Right now, I am focusing on portraiture more than anything. Presently, I am working with CASS (Central Arizona Shelter Services) on a series about the homeless in Phoenix who are benefitting from the shelter, finding hope through job placement, housing, clean clothes, access to doctors and in some cases, grants that allow them to start a new life in a secure environment. I hope to accumulate enough images to show or have a book printed.

Another project that I’ve been working on for the last few years has been transferring inkjet prints onto surfaces, mostly old, reclaimed doors. It’s a long, arduous process with such large surfaces (I won’t go into the process, but it generally leads to blisters on my fingers). The result is often unpredictable and they often resemble paintings.

What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
I think that success for me personally is when someone can recognize that an image is mine without anything telling them that I shot it. The photo industry is so oversaturated that it is tough to stand out, but that is my goal every time I take a photograph. Sometimes, I hit the bar, sometimes I exceed it and very often I fall short. But keeping that goal in mind every time I look through the viewfinder gives me the best shot that I have (pun not intended, but I guess it works).

This is probably the response that most people give you to the second part of the question: Hard work, dedication, refining your focus and pushing yourself to do better every time will make you the best that you can be in no matter what you do, be it art or making a spreadsheet (I guess… I’ve never made one). But as an artist, I think that the extra work that you have to do is to continually be looking at your own work and that of others to either refine your vision or evolve toward something new and exciting for yourself and the people that view your work.

Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Most of my work is printed in publications such as The Phoenix Business Journal, The Guardian, Profiles Magazine and in ad campaigns for various companies around Arizona. Here’s something that cracks me up: I was the staff photographer at U-Haul for a pretty long stretch of time, so some of the images that you see on the back of trucks and inside their rental locations are my photos. I show in establishments downtown from time to time, but most of my printed work comes with a byline.

Contact Info:

Website: At the moment, www.joshuamatic.com is my website, but there is a new website coming soon!
Phone: 602.909.2621
Email: joshuamatic@gmail.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_taff_photographic/

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