Photographer Joshua Lee Hits One Million Images
By Jann Darsie
This past Mardi Gras Day was especially memorable for photographer Joshua Lee Nidenberg, known professionally as Joshua Lee. It was the day he took his millionth photograph, as he says “for no apparent reason.”
Lee is a prolific photographer who specializes in the things he loves: images of New Orleans and Louisiana. His more than 20 collections of work include Carnival, Jazz Fest, architecture, food, and so much more. His website calls the images “focused on the Louisiana you remember.”
Photography was not Lee’s first profession. For more than two decades he worked in the insurance and finance sectors. However, his love of photography started early. “Ever since I was 10 years old, I have used taking pictures like a journal,” he said.
Lee’s first job out of college, where he earned a degree in marketing, brought him to New Orleans. When he wasn’t selling life insurance and advising clients on financial planning, he was out taking photographs of his adopted city. He just thought of it as a hobby.
The turning point came after Hurricane Katrina when Lee, like so many local workers, got laid off because his job was eliminated. At around the same time, he had won the company’s photography contest. The convergence of these two events led him to ask himself, “Can I make a living at this?”
The answer turned out to be a resounding yes. Lee had his first show 10 weeks after Katrina, in which he sold an impressive 100 pieces. The momentum just kept going.
The Arts Market of New Orleans and the Bywater Arts Market became early vending staples. He now keeps up a very active festival and art market schedule throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. His booths feature both prints ready to purchase on the spot and those that customers can order.
“Little Josh,” the 1 Millionth image by Joshua Lee
It was about the time that Lee was transitioning into his career as an artist that he crossed paths with the Ella Project’s Gene Meneray, then director of the Arts Business Program at the Arts Council of New Orleans (now Arts New Orleans). Lee refers to Meneray as his “of counsel” and adds: “I have benefited from his time and good advice for many years now.”
The Ella Project helped Lee with a licensing agreement not long after he began his arts career. And inspired by the recent publication of Rampart: A Legacy Planning & Readiness Guide for Musicians, Lee is about to work with them to create an estate plan. “I’m intending to get with the Ella Project to get things in order – to plan my own legacy and estate the way I want it to be,” he said.
The Ella Project created the guide to help musicians and other artists document and safeguard their work and prepare their estate. “Legacy planning is no accident,” Lee said.“ No one cares about it more than you do, so you should not leave this to other people to guess. Voice what you want to have happen with your work while you are still alive!”
And what a body of work Lee has. It consists of 25,000 film negatives, 975,000 digital images and, at any given time, up to 1,000 prints.
In the back of Lee’s mind, he has always wanted to take that one millionth photograph at a memorable time. “I’m a numbers guy,” he said. “This is a carry-over from my days working in insurance with actuarial and fiduciary tables.”
He originally had targeted New Year’s as the day he wanted to hit the one million mark. When that didn’t work out, he decided to go for Mardi Gras, and that’s exactly when it happened. Lee was in the Bywater, among costumed revelers. “It was the end of the day and I was on my way home. I happened to see this little stone face looking out at me on a porch and he looked like I felt – ready to have a good rest!”
Joshua Lee’s next festival booth, entitled “The Tip of the Nidenberg,” will be at the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on the second weekend in Contemporary Crafts, Tent I.
To learn more about Lee and his work, check out his website joshualeestudio.com and follow him on Facebook at @JoshuaLeeStudio.
