Conversations with Joshua Dean

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

Hi Joshua, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey started back in December of 2023 when I woke my leg snowboarding. I was supposed to be going on a study abroad trip to Europe over that winter break and had to drop out due to the accident. In turn, this caused me to fall into a bit of a depressed state.

One of my friends was coming over to hang out to keep me company and brought one of his friends along (Christian). Christian was also a fellow Mizzou student and did photography along with running a small digital marketing agency to showcase the local artists and fashion designers in the Columbia, MO area. He invited me to one of his studio shoots later that week just to get me out of the house for a bit and I loved the whole experience – had me feeling more like myself. He started inviting me to more shoots and I was just helping with posing and set design until one day he randomly handed me the camera to take a few pics and I guess I had an eye for it (according to Christian). After that he had me download Adobe Lightroom (for mobile) and would send me photos to practice editing on.

Fast forward a couple of months (April 2024) my friend Rob was having a fashion show on Mizzou’s campus and asked me if I wanted to do the graphic design for the flyers in addition to doing the photography for the show. This fashion show marked the official beginning of my photography journey – I didn’t even have my own camera yet, I shot the whole thing on rented gear from a local studio in Columbia called VidWest and spent the entire morning of the show figuring out how to use the thing (shoutout YouTube University). The week after I shot the fashion show, a local music artist was working on finishing up her first album and asked me to shoot the cover art for it. I slowly started shooting more portraits with my friends to help me learn how to work a camera, its setting, lighting, and editing especially.

Following my graduation from Mizzou in May 2024, I moved back home to KC and decided to use my graduation money to invest in a camera of my own so I could keep pursuing photography – which led me to booking my first paid portrait shoot. This sparked my desire to take my photography to the next level and start an instagram page to showcase my work. Jsd.photography._ was officially born May 31, 2024.

After moving back to KC I spent the better part of the next 9 months or so trying to find where I fit in within the art community and figuring out my style / editing workflow ect. while working a full time job. When New Years 2025 came around I made a resolution that I wanted to spend 2025 focusing on myself and my art. I saw that @Quinlyntoshphoto (my biggest inspiration for creative portraiture) was hosting a photoshop workshop in February so I signed up! At this point in time I was editing everything on my iPad using Lightroom Mobile and PicsArt. The day before Quinlyn’s workshop I downloaded the free trial for Adobe Photoshop for Mac and it felt like I was learning a new language – but I fell in love with it. It showed me a side to creative photography I didn’t even know was possible – the possibilities are truly endless.

I met so many cool and insanely talented individuals at the workshop and the weeks following. I felt like I finally found where I belong. Since the workshop I have had so many doors open for me – I was invited to showcase at my first art gallery, sold my first prints, photographed multiple fashion shows including the notorious West18thFashionShow, worked with my photography icon @Photos.Neftali, assisted on shoots for big names such as Drumstick, and now doing my first interview for a magazine.

Long story short – photography has given me so many opportunities I didn’t think were possible, a life I didn’t know I could have and a community I will be eternally grateful for. I have grown so much as an individual and as a creative and I cannot wait to see where else it takes me. Everything happens for a reason and breaking my leg on the slopes that day put it all into motion.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say the journey has been bumpy like a missouri backroad – could be smooth one minute and then throw you a pothole in the road the size of Kansas. I overthink my work all too often and tend to care too much about what people are going to think.
“I don’t have enough followers to do this” “Im not gonna get enough likes on that” – just second guessing everything I do and comparison is where creativity goes to die.

I also had my car stolen with all of my gear in it and that was once of those Kansas size potholes in the road.

But overall the journey has been more smooth than bumpy. I have been very blessed with the journey I have been on so far – Having the creatives I looked up to most (before I even started taking photography seriously) take me under their wing, showing me the ropes and weeding out a lot of BS that a lot of creators typically have to go through. Now those same creatives are my closest friends

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a creative portrait photographer – using strobes & wide angle lenses to bring a surrealistic element to my work, as well as using programs such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to bring those crazy visions to life.
Blending high-concept fashion photography with bold, surreal, and often humorous storytelling. I create vivid narrative moments using exaggerated poses, vibrant colors, and striking compositions to challenge convention and evoke emotion – a style that fuses polish with playful, cinematic energy. 

I am most proud of the person I have become and the community I get to call mine. All of these insanely talented models and creatives I get to learn from, grow with, and get to call my closest friends. I wouldn’t be anything without them and am eternally grateful to say the least.

What sets me apart from others? *I asked my roommates to help me answer this one haha*
“Your charisma, selflessness and willingness to help in any way you can, how motivated and hard working you are onto of having a full-time job, your organization and attention to detail, constant willingness to learn and grow, and uplifting others along with yourself, lending a hand whenever you can.”

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
My community and the people that I choose to surround myself with. You are who you surround yourself with and keep. All of my friends and family are supportive, uplifting and continue to push me further as an individual & creative each and every day! Making sure myself and my art are as authentic to myself as possible.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsd.photography._/