b.1943, New York City
In his youth, Joel studied painting with Polish artist Leo Cizes and later, during his teens, at New York’s Art Students League. At 16, he became interested in photography.
In 1968, Joel and Betty Schreck opened Exposure Gallery on New York’s lower East side. It was New York’s first full time photography gallery since Stieglitz’s An American Place. From 1968 – 1973 Exposure showed Joel’s work along with the work of many other photographers.
In 1970 Betty and Joel moved from Manhattan to Berkeley California, and in 1972 began crafting pictures with pressed flowers. The UC Berkeley Art Museum gift shop sold their Wilderness Cards and Flora, and so did several hundred other gift shops and galleries throughout California.
Though Joel is best known for his colorful digital "PhotoGraphics", his eye for composition and balance is most apparent in his black and white photography.
The photographs on this page represent his re-discovery of black and white photography made possible by new digital printers, capable of the fine tonal gradations of darkroom printing on silver paper. All Joel's prints are made on museum quality acid-free paper with archival pigmented inks.