Photographer · Anchored in Houston, Texas
Joseph West
I'm a wedding photographer anchored in Houston, Texas. For more than a decade I've photographed weddings on film — from intimate desert elopements to celebrations of a thousand guests over four or five days. I work in medium-format film and digital, by appointment, taking a small number of commissions a year and traveling for about half of them.
Begin a commission →How I got here
Some moments split your life into before and after. For me, one of those was the day I documented my first wedding — from the beginning, I was hooked. Since then I've had the privilege of being welcomed into some of the most generous people's private world on one of the most distinctive days of their lives. Challenges accepted, goals met, and most of all, friendships that have lasted. I genuinely do what I love, in a way that's been shaped by everything I've lived — and I'm grateful for it.
My experience runs wide: small intimate elopements, fifteen-hundred-person weddings stretched across days, ceremonies with no light and ceremonies with nothing but, the weddings of public figures, and a great deal in between.
How I work
I photograph on medium-format film alongside digital, and I take only a handful of commissions each year so each one gets its full attention. I travel for about half the weddings I commission — recent years have taken me to Marfa, Turks & Caicos, Cabo, and Vail, among others. Film is a deliberate choice: it holds light, and time, in a way that still feels true to me years after the day.
Off the clock
I grew up on a farm, feeding chickens and cows. I have a wife who is an extraordinary photographer in her own right, an overweight cat named Lennon, and a puppy named Juniper. The Beatles are the best. I love falling asleep on planes and waking up in a different country. Marfa has my heart. Anything else — just ask.
See the work
Browse the weddings, the full archive, or the places I love to photograph — Marfa and Round Top. When you're ready, begin a commission.