Joe Young

Above top photo by Hannah Miller. Above bottom photo by Clayton Joe Young.

Mountain people and scenery have fascinated Joe Young of Davidson since, as a child, he accompanied his grandfather on vacation trips to Yancey County. When he pursued undergraduate and graduate degrees in photography at Appalachian State University in Boone, his pictures reflected that interest “no matter what the assignment,” he says.

Now head of photography at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, Young is putting his photographs into books, sometimes in collaboration with area poets.

When he’s shooting old or abandoned buildings, as he did for his CSA shots, he feels “like a detective,” imagining the buildings’ past. The best thing about the CSA, he says, was the party when patrons unwrapped their art.

“It was like Christmas.”

Learn more at joeyoungphoto.com