Joe Brook (born 1972) is an American photographer. He has been a Staff Photographer for ''

Thrasher Magazine Thrasher is an American skateboarding media brand founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello, who also founded Independent Truck Company, and officially launched as a skateboard magazine. Since the 1990s, Thrasher has expanded i ...

'' for over 20 years.

Early life and education

Brook grew up riding bmx and later on found a passion for skateboarding in Detroit and moved to San Francisco at the end of high school with $500 from his bmx bikes that he sold, a duffel bag, and a skateboard. Soon after arriving to the city, He moved into 824 Hyde St. an unofficial San Francisco skate hostel where Brook would live for 15 years. While living in San Francisco, Brook took photo classes at

City College of San Francisco City College of San Francisco (CCSF or City College) is a public community college in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded as a junior college in 1935, the college plays an important local role, enrolling as many as 1 in 35 San Franc ...

and spent time skating with acclaimed local skate filmers and photographers including Aaron Meza, Gabe Morford, Bryce Kanights, and Dave Metty.

Photography career

Brook was introduced to photographer and magazine editor Lance Dawes by Aaron Meza, while Brook also became friends with Mark Whiteley from the local SF skate scene. After a few years of learning the craft, Brook began contributing to

Slap magazine ''Slap Magazine'' is an American skate magazine created by Kevin Thatcher and Fausto one late night when they sparked an idea to create their own competition. At the time they ran Thrasher Skateboard Mag. The next day they put Lance Dawes in ch ...

, run by Dawes and Whiteley. When Dawes announced he was moving to Los Angeles and leaving his role at Slap, Dawes and Whiteley asked Brook if he wanted to be a photo editor and photographer for Slap. Brook has photographed skateboarding for over 30 years, working for magazines including '' Slap,'' ''

Thrasher Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera. These do not form a clade but are a phe ...

,'' and ''

Juxtapoz ''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...

.'' Brook drives a van painted with an

American flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

called 'Big Blue' which he has crossed America many times in. In 2011, éS released a Joe Brook colorway of their Square Two Fusion shoe to honor his contributions to skateboarding. In 2016, Brook showed 20 years of skate photography at the Growlery in a show titled ''Defining a Distance.''

Tommy Guerrero Thomas Marc Guerrero (born September 9, 1966) is an American musician, composer, and professional skateboarder. He is a former member of the Bones Brigade, a prominent skateboarding team of the 1980s that also included Tony Hawk and Steve Caba ...

performed at the opening.

References

External links

Bitch Slap Mag: the photographer series Joe Brook/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brook, Joe American photographers Living people 1972 births Skateboarding mass media Skateboarding photographers