Who's in the Crew? - Spotlight on Josh Line

NAME: Josh Line - https://www.joshline.com/

WHERE DO YOU LIVE? I ended up in Las Vegas in April of 2009 after I lost my job in Delaware. Post-2008 was a tough time for a lot of people and I was fortunate enough to have the military reserves for help. I went to Nellis AFB for what was supposed to be a short assignment. My stepmom, Gail, had retired here so I got to spend some time with her. Not too long after I arrived, she was sick and it ended up being terminal cancer. I was able to extend my assignment to be with her for the duration of her treatment and care. After Gail passed in October, I was offered a job with the Department of Defense and relocated to Las Vegas in 2010. I worked for about 3 weeks before shipping off to Baghdad before finally settling in my own place in January of 2011. From 2009-2011 I was living out of hotels and tents and now I could finally have a sense of normalcy. Las Vegas has been great and I never thought I would live here. I'm glad I'm here so that we can meet up during WPPI and Headshot Mania.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SHOOTING HEADSHOTS? Headshots have been my main focus since 2016. Once I was able to learn the rules of the game, I have been hooked on shooting human faces. In 2013, I had a chance to go to DINFOS with the military. I left my engineering position to take a lead position for my public affairs office. I was supposed to be the lead enlisted for photojournalists which would require me to travel once a month to different states writing stories and taking pictures of different military units. I reported directly to my unit commander and had a budget to build a brand new team that never existed before. My school got delayed and I had to make a choice. Go to DINFOS and pursue this opportunity or miss the birth of my daughter, Charlie. I opted for my family and told myself I would learn photography on my own. Not going to DINFOS fueled my fire for starting my own business and creating opportunities with photography.

WHAT ELSE DO YOU LIKE TO SHOOT? I've always had an itch for photojournalism that covers interesting events and people. I do shoot some events because Vegas has a ton of them. In the last few years, I got to shoot and meet Kelly Clarkson, Bad Bunny, LeJuan James, Robin Leach (in 2015), Chefs Thomas Keller, and Curtis Stone.

WHAT IS YOUR LIGHTING SETUP FOR HEADSHOTS? I generally stick to a triangle in the studio and on location. The only variable is the background lighting. I use Paul C Buff Einsteins and Alien bees and 3ftx1ft strip boxes.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST DISCOVER PH AND THE HSC? I think I stumbled across Peter's YouTube videos in 2015. It wasn't until a year later that I actually looked into the HSC.

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO JOIN THE CREW AFTER YOU FOUND IT? To be honest, I was pretty skeptical at first. With all the online and photography education, I thought it was probably bullshit. It took me a year of kicking the can to finally jump in.

WHAT'S ONE THING ABOUT YOU PEOPLE WOULD NEVER GUESS? I have a lot of things people would probably never guess about me so here's a list.

1. I worked at the Dover AFB port mortuary after Sept. 11th. Working in the mortuary affairs environment for about 3 years had the most significant impact on my life This isn't something we are usually comfortable talking about but it's had the most profound way of altering my outlook on us as humans. At the end of the day, we are all the same and we should be looking for ways to help each other and there are no small acts of kindness.

2. While visiting Bishkek Kyrgyzstan in 2003, I had a chance to eat horse meat. From what I was told, it's a specialty of theirs. It was actually good and they paired it was vodka and contact. it was my first time leaving North America and my first trip overseas during my military service.

3. I have an irrational fear of dropping my keys in the crack of the elevator doors. I always put my keys in my pocket or make sure they are there when I go in or out of an elevator. My mind always goes thinking that if I drop my keys, it will take forever to get them back. Totally irrational and I'm not sure why.

WHAT'S ONE THING YOU WISH PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT YOU? It's totally ok to buy me a beer or 3 when we meet.