Joe studied art and design in Malta and Florence, Italy where he was awarded scholarship in 1983.

He has been in photography since 1979. He is a member of the Malta Photographic Society of which he won the coveted Photographer of the Year Award in 1995 and also a Fellow of the Malta Institute of Professional Photographers. He is often called upon by both organisations to judge competitions and give lectures. In 1995 he was made Associate of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain and later Artist of the International Federation of Photographic Art. In 2001 he was the first and only Maltese photographer to achieve Fellowship status of the Malta Institute of Professional Photographers. In November of the same year he was also made Associate of the Master Photographers Association of the UK. He has been responsible for the design of various postage stamps, logos of established companies, brochures, packaging and CD sleeves.

Between 1991-1992 he was art director of the in-house design and packaging studio of a cosmetics manufacturing concern

His preference is for monochrome photography especially those depicting the performing arts and his name has become synonymous with pictures of Jazz musicians who performed in the Malta Jazz Festival of which he has been the official photographer since the first edition in 1991. Many of his Jazz pictures can be found on the websites of renowned musicians who played in the Festival

He has also spent five years as the resident photographer of the experimental theatre group Politeatru between 1987 and 1993 with whom he travelled to Moscow in 1991 and staged an exhibition of theatrical photography at the Russian Federation Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art. He still uses conventional film for his work but this is then scanned and output digitally.

In October 2002 he was awarded the prestigious Overseas Master Photographer Award of the Master Photographers Association of the UK.

Joe has exhibited extensively locally and abroad and has had work published in various publications. He is also frequently called upon to judge local and international competitions and also to lecture on the subject.

All photos copyright © Joe Smith. All Rights Reserved.

Ralph Peterson (1998): Ralph was playing with the Michael Brecker Group which included Joey Calderazzo on piano and Jemes Genus on bass.

William Kennedy (1996): Playing with the Yellowjackets

Paul Motian (1995): Paul Motian's Broadway Band with Lee Konitz on alto sax, Joe Lovano on tenor and Marc Johnson on bass.

Jack de Johnette (1994): Playing with the Dave Holland Band featuring John Abercrombee on guitar.

Roy Haynes (1993): Leading his own band: The Roy Haynes Quartet

Al Foster (1994): With Joe Henderson on sax, George Mrazz on bass and Beku Mseleku on piano.

Nathaniel Townsley (2000): Played with the Joe Zawinul Syndicate featuring Victor Bailey on bass, Manolo Badrena on percussion and Amit Chatterjee on guitar.

Alphonse Mouzon (1999): Played with Larry Coryell and 11th House.which featured also Jeff Berlin on bass. Randy Brecker did not make it to this edition of the Festival.

Dave Weckl (1994): Played with Mike Stern and Jeff Andrews on bass.

All shots taken during various editions of the Malta International Jazz Festival which started off in 1991. It is usually held on the third weekend of July.