I love collaborating remotely, but the creative talent in my neighborhood brings me tremendous joy. Joe Crimmings has worked with major brands and remains a civic-minded photographer who seizes opportunities to spotlight the good happening in our backyards. Follow Joe on Instagram
Joe and I have teamed up on several initiatives over the years, so I was eager to talk more in-depth about his path. (Bonus that he could walk over and chat over coffee at my dining table!)
Joe Crimmings with his wife, Libby, celebrating his photography show at Mars Cafe
What was your path to becoming a professional photographer?
I always knew I wanted to do something creative and visual. In high school, I told myself I wanted to be an architect. The short version of not becoming an architect was that when I came for a tour of Iowa State, the advisor who was showing me around the College of Design said, "Oh, that's a lot of math." That shouldn't have mattered because I liked math in high school and was good at it, but I was more interested in drawing pictures of buildings than doing equations. Immediately, I ruled architecture out. Christmas of my freshman year in college, my parents gave me my first film camera. I took a couple of free classes through Memorial Union, which had a dark room at the time. I was doing weird, experimental stuff.
Between my sophomore and junior years, I got sick with cancer. I took my junior year off and had time to figure out what I wanted to do. When I came back, I switched to the journalism school and joined the Iowa State Daily photo staff. I became the photo editor of the Daily and then Ethos, the magazine. I really liked the storytelling aspect of going out and covering everything. Hurricane Katrina happened the fall of my senior year, and a reporter and I got in my car and followed a supply truck that was going from Boone down to the Gulf. We were able to document the devastation and see recovery efforts firsthand, which was a mind-blowing experience that most college students don't get.
After college, you worked at a daily newspaper, on magazine photo shoots and photo directed for major brands. What did you take away from each of those eras?
My newspaper experience covering car crashes and tragedies taught me that I don't want to photograph people when they're hurt and most vulnerable, but I love storytelling.
I've worked with so many talented photographers and creative people during my career.
Working as a photo assistant in the Meredith photo studio was so different and a much slower pace from the journalistic style I was used to. No disrespect to food photographers, because the work that they do with food stylists and teams is so incredible. Then, I worked with Adam Albright, who was Meredith's go-to photographer to travel the country shooting unique quilt shops.
Then, my friend Mindy Torrey, who was Creative Director at Lands' End, called me to do some shoots in Madison for that brand. She called me again when she moved to VP of Creative for Lane Byrant. That was an important time for me because I'd worked with super-talented home and garden and food photographers at Meredith, but fashion was a totally different world.
All of a sudden, I'm in charge of these people who have been doing [fashion photography] for decades, and they're brilliant. Dewey Nicks is this incredible photographer who embodies Old Hollywood. My first shoot in New York City, he shows up to the studio, and I'm like, I'm supposed to be telling this guy what to do? Hilarious. He was a key figure for me. We would talk photography and I loved to listen to his stories. It helped me embrace that life of making art and being a photographer.
Even back at Iowa State, I remember covering an event at the corner of Lincoln Way and Welch Avenues with Jeff Christian who is making documentaries and running a production company now. He told me the best way to cover an event is to use a wide-angle lens. You put it to the wide setting, and you move yourself in closer. That has always stuck with me. Some of my favorite photos I've ever taken over the span of my career are ones where I'm right on top of people, instead of, like, putting the long lens on and standing back. I like putting myself in the middle of the action.
I appreciate that about your style. It's one of the reasons I get excited to collaborate with you. Looking ahead, what photography projects are you focused on?
I get inspired by projects that work to tell a story. I'm trying to come up with a phrase other than "storytelling photographer," because that's becoming a bit cliché. Social media is full of storyteller influencers, right? I'm drawn to the human element of how we live our lives.
I follow a photographer who goes by The Selby. His "The Selby Comes Home" kind of pushed me to embrace more of a lifestyle feel. The photos say so much more when I'm showing an experience of a place.
Looking ahead, I'm interested in working on more travel stories and doing environmental shoots, whether that's in outdoor spaces or people's homes. I'm really excited about a supper club story I have coming out in January for dsm Dish.
Most of our collaborations have been for dsm Magazine features or community initiatives, like photos you took for the Des Moines Public Library and of Ingersoll Live. How do you like to approach editorial projects?
I do a lot of research. If I'm shooting people, I like to know who they are, what's their background, and how they've been photographed before. I don't want to recreate something that's already been done. When I get there, I already have some ideas.
I don't like when editors say, "Just get what you can get." I like to lean on the writer as a de facto art director. You know what's in the story. How can I, as a photographer, illustrate it for you that's going to help both of us create this cohesive package?
Thanks for being up for a day trip to Jefferson, Iowa with me for "Going Against the Grain," our latest feature for the 2025 edition of ia Magazine, Joe!
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