James Joiner is an award-winning photographer, writer, director, marketer, and editor.
A former senior staffer at Esquire and senior correspondent and video creative director at The Daily Beast, James left a career in traditional journalism in 2016 to focus on telling stories with human or environmental angles. His analog photography has garnered partnerships with iconic film-makers Kodak and Polaroid while his byline and images have appeared everywhere from Rolling Stone and National Geographicto The New York Times, Monster Children, Cosmopolitan, Outside, and GQ.
Recent career highlights include a stint as Director of Marketing for the largest independent winery in the Pacific Northwest, where his social media and print campaigns earned multiple awards. His knack for storytelling, aesthetics, and more than a decade of successfully managing social media accounts and strategies for major media companies and brands as well as chart-topping musicians combined with a deep knowledge of building and executing targeted social media audience campaigns has resulted his leading best practices workshops for a variety of clients.
With a passion for community and finding the human element in any project, James creates 360º stories, content and strategy for brands, editorial outlets, and other like-minded creative partners. Recent commercial clients include Patagonia, Specialized, Ram Trucks, Fender, Kona Bikes, Ralph Lauren, Bandit Wines, Yeti, Orvis, Wilderness Systems, House of Smith Wines, The Head and the Heart, Modest Mouse, Huckberry, Fender, Phish, Warner Brothers, Pabst Blue Ribbon, C3, Willie Nelson's Luck Reunion, Converse, Big Agnes, and many more.
Born with an unbridled passion for protecting our planet, James is proud to work with Protect Our Winters as acreative ambassador. Understanding the importance of giving back to the communities he’s a part of, James’ volunteer work includes mentorship, leading workshops, and public speaking as well as creating fundraising projects for MusiCares, Surfrider, the ASPCA, plus regional photography programs and non-profits. He is the former host and producer of 1% for the Planet’s Planet Service Announcement podcast as well as Kona Bikes’ Kona Cog Cast.