About Joanna

On March 11, 2004 I was on a plane coming home to St. Louis from Denver after a ski trip with my mom, brother James and then fiancé Kristian. I was involved in a winded discussion about music and Charles Bukowski for most of the flight with a gentleman from Albuquerque, and it wasn’t until Kristian and I got home later that evening that I realized that I had left my Nikon N80 under the seat on the plane. 

This was one of the key moments in my life when my love of photography overwhelmed me. My brother had given me that camera while I was in college, and all that was running through my head was specific images that it had captured, what the shutter sounded like, and the way it felt in my hands. I knew I’d never see it again.

The sadness I felt that day has been matched on countless others by joy while photographing, for example, the birth of my friend Ashley’s son Jonah, or, a childhood friend’s wedding, and then her sister’s, also a friend. I feel honored and blessed to photograph the events that represent the happiest times in people’s lives, and wouldn’t trade my job for the world.

My professional training in photography comes from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, receiving my BJ in Photojournalism in 2002. I have been working professionally as a photographer since, starting Joanna Kleine Photography in April of 2004, and working on a freelance basis with companies such as The Spark Agency, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and the St. Louis Cardinals. 

I have had the good fortune of making a career out of what I have loved to do ever since I learned how to press the shutter on a camera. I do not take that for granted, and hold myself to the highest standards while photographing any assignment.