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Patrick Joust

 

Patrick Joust (b. 1978, Oroville, CA) is a self-taught photographer living in Baltimore whose work explores urban life at night, everyday rituals, and Americana. His photographs are deeply rooted in the slow, human pace of analog, yet they resonate with cinematic clarity and emotional depth.

Visual Philosophy & Practice

Joust views photography as a way to engage with time and memory—a method of making sense of daily life through visible evidence and quiet attention. Inspired by poetry, cinema, and visual diarists like William Eggleston and Joel Meyerowitz, he uses photography as both exploration and understanding.

His photographic categories vary widely—street, nighttime, urban landscapes, nature—but his consistent emotional through-line is curiosity, observation, and poetic noticing.

Gear & Format Overview

Patrick’s equipment reflects his interest in variety, spontaneity, and tactile engagement with photography:

  • Film-First Practice: Predominantly shoots medium format film (especially 6×6 and 6×9), which he discovered around 2008 and found transformative in depth and resolution.

  • Camera Collection:

    • TLRs: Mamiya C330, Ricohflex, Yashica Mat (all 6×6)

Mamiya C330

Ricohflex
Yashica Mat

    • Fujica 6×9 camera for broader format

Fuji GW690

    • Olympus XA, Leica M3, Konica Hexar RF for 35mm

Leica M3

Konica Hexar RF

Olympus XA

    • Occasionally uses Polaroid instant film and digital formats for experimentation.

  • Favorite Starter Camera: His first serious camera was a Canonet QL17—a compact 35mm rangefinder that taught him portability and intimacy in street photography.

Canonet QL17

  • Flow & Output: Joust typically shoots 3 to 5 rolls per week, with his digital workflow primarily used for organizing and editing. He develops most of his own B&W film in a home darkroom but seldom prints everything he shoots.

Why These Tools Serve His Vision

  • Film formats enable emotional clarity: Joust values the "surreal density" and visual richness of medium format—where subtle details and tones emerge in mundane everyday scenes.

  • Varied tools support varied visions: He switches cameras based on mood—shooting 6×6 for portraits and quiet gestures, 6×9 for urban expanses, 35mm when things move fast.

  • Analog fosters connection: Joust argues that film disarms subjects, builds a slower relationship between photographer and image, and invites reflection rather than consumption.

The Work & Its Legacy

Patrick’s book We’ve Seen How Strange Things Can Get at Night (2013) captures his early nocturnal vision. His ongoing projects frame Baltimore’s streets, residents, buildings, and natural light in ways both familiar and unsettling. His images seek the subtle shifts in life that escape the surface view.

His photographs have appeared in Analog Forever, BBC, Washington Post, and more; he also founded the Film in Baltimore Flickr group to cultivate community around analog exploration.

Final Thoughts

Patrick Joust’s gear choices reflect a belief that tool diversity brings creative freedom. By moving between formats—and favoring film—he invites slowness, depth, and surprise into every frame. His process is poetic, patient, and democratic: film for its beauty and mystery, digital for its organizing power, but always the image first.

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