Joseph Harris, an award-winning photographer, artist, and teacher known affectionately as "Joe" to his family, friends, and colleagues was born in Greenville, SC on March 12, 1940. When he was an infant he moved with his family to Washington, DC, and later on to Harlem, NYC when he was 12. After graduating from the High School of Art and Design, he went on to attend the Pratt Institute, one of the top art colleges in the world. He was a professor of photography at The City College of New York from 1985 until his death in 2003.