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Joe Gaffney studied at the Royal College of Art in London. At the RCA he began his lifelong passion for portraiture, searching out artists whose work he admired, taking pictures of his friends and photographing the feverish glam-rock atmosphere of London in the early 1970's. It was at this time that Joe began shooting celebrity portraits for Andy Warhol's Interview. His work from this period can be seen in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery and the V&A in London.

In the mid 70's Joe went to Paris for the weekend to shoot Man Ray's portrait - as it turned out the last ever taken of him. Joe's weekend in Paris lasted 12 years. He began to shoot portraits for French Vogue, where Joe's picture of the film director Francois Truffaut inspired the editor-in-chief to ask him to shoot fashion for them. Joe became a top French Vogue fashion photographer. His career in Paris was meteoric. Joe shot fashion, beauty and celebrity portraits for all the important European fashion magazines of the period. He became known for his clean, graphic pictures and intricate lighting style. He shot ads for many important fashion, beauty and jewelry companies, including two iconic campaigns for Thierry Mugler.

After 12 years in Paris, Joe moved to New York. There he gradually became engrossed in his original love: painting - almost to the point of stopping photography altogether. Then Joe started experimenting with digital photography. He found that digital gave him a freedom with the medium he had not felt in years. He began shooting faces, friends, artists whose work interested him, just as he had done when starting out. In the past year his fashion and portrait work has been rediscovered by a new generation of editors. His recent work can now be seen in magazines like "Dazed and Confused" and "10".