About Me


Hi.

I'm Johnny Joo.

I've been a photographer in the Northeast Ohio area for over 15 years.


My first main subject of focus when I started my journey into photography was abandoned buildings. Whether it was rural countryside farmhouses or larger structures in the city, it was a subject that caught my attention. While building my portfolio, I took on numerous photography related jobs. Some of my first photography jobs were within the Cleveland, Ohio music scene, but it wasn't long after that when I started getting hired for weddings and engagement photography.


VANITA & NICK
CLEVELAND, OHIO

Photography became my main career in 2014, when Buzzfeed shared my photos of abandoned malls, and the Huffington Post followed that up with a story about my work, and a book I was working on at the time. Since then, I've continued to document historic and abandoned places across the United States, and my work has been featured in numerous magazines and books around the world, including the Smithsonian Magazine, as well as a feature from Time. I've also self-published over ten books of my own.


Most of the people that hired me when I started photographing weddings had seen my other work, and wanted to hire someone that wasn't your typical wedding photographer to capture their day. They wanted someone that could bring a bit of a photojournalist touch to their weddings to capture all of the special, raw and real moments of their day. Over the years, I grew to love capturing people's wedding days.


Documenting the real moments of your wedding day

Every person should be framed in the real life, unstaged moments they’ve felt the most loved and cared for.

My favorite images to capture are candid moments, and most of the images I capture throughout a wedding day are those true, real moments between a couple, and their friends and family. It's important for you to live your wedding day to the fullest, and love reliving it later through the photos. When you look back at your wedding photos, I want you to remember exactly how you felt in those moments.

A bit about how i work:

For the vast majority of your wedding day, my approach to photography is purely documentary. I aim to capture the authentic moments without directing, staging, or prompting your guests to pose unnaturally. Your wedding day is about the two of you, and everyone else having a fun and stress-free time. The real magic lies in the genuine interactions, and those are the moments I'll preserve. Of course, we can still include some family portraits and the necessary group images. Before the wedding, I’ll send you a questionnaire to ensure we cover all the essential shots with minimal disruption. I like to stay out of the way whenever possible, and sometimes you might notice it seems like I’m not even there. This is nothing to worry about! I’ll be sure I’m there at all times, capturing the moments you’ll love to look back on the most. Trust in me to photograph your day, and I know you’ll love what I capture. 


I book weddings mostly in and around the Northeast Ohio area, including Cleveland, Mentor, Chagrin Falls, Willoughby, Kirtland, Geneva, Youngstown, etc., but am fine with traveling anywhere.


So, wherever you're planning, reach out to me — I'd love to capture your day.