JOSEPH MICHAEL LOPEZ – Photographer, Cinematographer & Educator

Joseph Michael Lopez, known professionally as JML, is a New York City–born independent photographer of Puerto Rican and Cuban heritage. He earned his MFA from Columbia University in 2011 and began his career as an analog cinematographer on Bruce Weber’s Chop Suey (2001). Today, he balances long-form projects, commercial work, and teaching, creating photographs that capture both urban life and personal narrative.

JML’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Sunday Review of The New York Times, and Leica Fotografie International, among others. His photographs have been featured in exhibitions at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and The Museum of the City of New York, including the commissioned series New York at Its Core: Future City Lab.

A storyteller through the lens, JML has also been published in key photography anthologies and released his first monograph, JML NYC 02–23, with GOST in 2024, marking over two decades of documenting the vitality and complexity of New York City.