About Joshua Radu

Graduate from Dawson College in Professional Photography in 1994.

He had numerous exhibitions in Canada and abroad. His work has been in PHOTO LIFE & PHOTO SELECTION magazines  and books and has been on CBC radio taking about his photos.  He also received a QUEBEC ARTIST GRANT and also won the PHOTOLIFE MAGAZINE grand prize for his black and white photos.

Joshua looks for a picture that is very simple, yet very detailed and timeless in its interest. He wants a picture that will come out well and make people really see!

"Composition is very important for me. That is when originality and light come together to make a perfect photo. I am always looking for a new way to see life."

 Joshua has giving course at Vanier College in Montreal on Photoshop and Digital photography for the general public. Also taught at the Saidye Bronfman centre for the arts.

 The Canada Council Art Bank has acquired one of Joshua’s photos from 1,840 submissions received.

He is now working on a book from his photo of the Quebec Rodeo

Joshua was Picked for Magnum ( photographic cooperative of great diversity and distinction)Workshop in  Toronto at Contact 2011 which he will participate in an intimate 5 day shooting workshop with  Magnum Photographers: Bruno Barbey, Chien-Chi Chang, Bruce Gilden, David Alan Harvey, Eli Reed, Larry Towell and Donovan Wylie.

Joshua Radu was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and moved to Montreal, Quebec when he was very young. From early childhood, he demonstrated an interest in fine details of the natural world -- an interest that has since developed into an appreciation of patterns and textures of external reality. A frequent visitor to galleries and museums, Joshua Radu is also an avid traveler to places as distant as England, Russia, Botswana and the Arctic Circle in Norway. To study and learn from the masters of images, he has visited the treasures of the Louvre, the Prado and the Vatican. He says, "Carrying a camera gives me an excuse to go places and see things that the general public ordinarily doesn't visit or see."

Joshua looks for a picture that is very simple, yet very detailed and timeless in its interest. He wants a picture that will come out well and make people really see! He prefers black and white compositions because he feels the viewer has to look at details rather than concentrating on the colour our eyes see al the time. "I try to take a picture that tells a subtle story, or keeps you looking or questioning. Composition is very important for me. That is when origianlity and light come together to make a perfect black and white photo. I am always looking for a new way to see life."

He has worked in all areas of freelance photography (photojournalism, portraiture, events/galas, fashion, weddings, and digitial photography), Radu's love is Documentary Photography where you spend time with the subject and get to know it well. He wants to bring a different approach to photography. A look at human interaction inspired by visual context mixed with light, movement and energy.

After returning from Europe one fall, he heard about a rodeo in rural Quebec. Realizing that the rodeo is not well known in eastern Canada, or in French Quebec, he took his camera and went to shoot a few rolls. This developed into a project that he has been working on for  years, capturing the reality of it on film and planning and designing a book

 1- Other than photo, what other artistic medias are you interested in?

I have a marked interest in painting, it captures light, it is the father of photography. You learn to see light from paintings and photography is all about light.

2- When did you first realize you were interested in photography?

I developped a strong interest in the art of photography in my young teenage years.  Looking at National geographics magazine has stimiulated my interest.

3- What was you most memorable experience while travelling?

Having champagne and cheese in Red Square in Russia, on a nice summer night, with friends from New Zealand and Australia.

4- You have visited The Louvre, Prado and the Vatican, how important do you feel it is for an artist to study other work?

It is very important because you learn from their mistakes and triumphs. You see what others have done therefore you try to create your own personnal stlye. 

5- Do you have a favorite thing / subject to photgraph?

Yes, Rodeo's in Quebec, because it is not common, it is a unique subject and a challenge to photograph.

6- Are you still working on Quebec Rodeo's?  How is it going?

The Quebec Rodeo project is complete and I am now trying to make it into a book and televised documentary.

7- Please tell me about the Senneville project.

The Senneville project will hopefully be my first video project intended for television, there are alot of untold stories about the village and it is rich in history.

8- Do you have favorite artists and how have they inspired you?

There is a groupe of photographers knowned as THE MaGNUM AGENCY, based in New Yors and Paris.  They have covered world crisis with film with documentary for the past 50 years.