Fine art photographer, Joey Waves displays Southwest Florida and his passion for the beauty of nature in its rawest form through his bold, breathtaking work. While he wasn’t always enamored with photography, as his artistic talent bloomed and he became a notable spray can graffiti artist in Miami in his teens, his remarkable camera work has attracted a worldwide audience and is sought after by art dealers and collectors alike.
As a self-taught graphic designer, he spent a decade working as the lead designer for Southern Wine & Spirits (now Southern-Glazer), the nation’s leading wine and spirits distributor, creating ad campaigns, flyers, menus, and signage for notable brands such as Patron, Opus One, SKYY, Absolut, Tito’s, Malibu and Punzone Vodka. His keen sense of marketing vision and dynamic design style earned him a coveted and cemented position within the industry. About ten years ago, Joey redirected his artistic energy by picking up a camera. Shooting sunrises over the water and capturing light as it danced over the waves and across the horizon, he fell in love with the feel and the results of having a camera in his hands. Loving the natural beauty of Florida and understanding the language nature speaks since he was a small child, he has allowed his fascination and appreciation of nature to be expressed through this medium. “I want to portray the passion of nature that not everyone sees the way that I do. I want to share my love for it with everyone,” says Joey.
And indeed he has.
With his photography developing significantly over the last few years, he has risen in the ranks of other respected fine art photographers in our area, being featured on WINK News, CBS Miami, WPTV in West Palm Beach as well as in publications such Marco Island SunTimes, Fort Lauderdale Magazine, The Marco Review and Experience Southwest Florida. He has even published a 100-page full-color coffee table book that focuses solely on Southwest Florida’s stunning beauty. He also photographs engagements, weddings, families, individuals, real estate, and even food. When working with individuals and families, he likes to give them time to get comfortable so their personalities can shine through. He says that one of the best things about working with children is that they aren’t burdened by vanity or insecurities. Whether its people or nature, he desires to capture the uniqueness and authenticity through his lense.
One of the reasons he gravitates towards nature is because he thinks the world is too saturated with material things and he “just wants to remind people of the natural beauty that we all can share.” He doesn’t photograph anything to evoke political emotion nor does he use materialistic or economic motivations to generate his work. He doesn’t like to over-think; he likes to freestyle his photo sessions and working in nature provides him the perfect atmosphere to just be. He listens, he watches, he feels, and with one click of the shutter, he speaks.
His unbridled love for the environment draws him out into the world. His dream is to rent an Airstream indefinitely and travel across the United States discovering the hidden-in-plain-sight gems national parks have to offer. “Call it art by God, or art by the universe, there are magical visions out there that I think people can easily overlook or take for granted in their daily life. I just want to be within nature and share what I see with the world.” While he hasn’t quite secured that Airstream yet, he has begun his journey by being part of the small, hand-selected team of photographers assigned to The Big Cypress National Preserve, located about 45 miles west of Miami on the Atlantic coastal plain in Ochopee, Florida.
At the end of the day, he rests in the quality of his work and the way it moves all who view it. “Art is emotion. I hope that my images evoke something in the people that see them. I hope that I can be an educator of the value of nature and the need for all of us to revere its beauty and importance.” He allows the world to experience nature through his eyes and it’s a view incomparable to any other.
Joey Waves Photography / Island Media Group
joeywaves.com / IslandMedia.group
954.232.0772 / ErinMiamilchman@gmail.com
