A cinematographer and sometimes director, Joe hails from Hamilton, New Zealand, where he graduated screen and media studies from The University of Waikato in 2004. He began work as a camera operator and lighting technician for community television and local theatre. In 2005, Joe presented his student stop-motion short Kismet (2004) at Screamfest Film Festival in LA. His experience at the festival inspired shooting Down by the Riverside (2007), a low budget noir-horror feature, which premiered at B-Movie Film Festival. Joe spent several years working in technical roles on movies such as The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) and Avatar (2009), then began freelancing as a Director of Photography on music videos, commercials and documentaries. In between jobs, Joe received an AMP Scholarship and animated The North Pole Deception (2010), which premiered at Fantastic Planet Film Festival in 2010, and was well reviewed in the Show Me Shorts Film Festival while touring New Zealand.