Joel Sternfeld (born June 30, 1944) is an American artist using photography, as well as an educator and writer. He is known for his large-format color photography of contemporary American life. His work contributed to the establishment of color photography as a respected artistic medium. Sternfeld’s photography follows in the tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank. His images are often imbued with a sense of beauty and melancholy, capturing moments of hope, despair, and tenderness. Since the publication of his landmark book American Prospects in 1987, Sternfeld’s photography has intertwined conceptual and political themes, reflecting his engagement with history, landscape theory, and the passage of time.

He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers, New York.

Sternfeld earned a BA from Dartmouth College. He began taking color photographs in 1969. He initially explored the application of Josef Albers' book Interaction of Colour (1963) to color photography. This study eventually led to the formal color scheme and images constructed with two or three pastel hues of equal density, a method rigorously adhered to in the body of work known as American Prospects.

He also examined the idea, described by historian and critic Lewis Mumford, that each era in history has its own characteristic color scheme. This notion was reflected in his work through his choice of pale pastel colors and the avoidance of primaries in American Prospects and subsequent projects, as he felt it represented a new pseudo-sophistication emerging in the United States.

Sternfeld began taking pictures in 1969 with a 35mm camera and Kodachrome slide film. These early pictures mark the beginning of his interest in documenting the American condition. They offer insight into the development of his color aesthetic, which eventually resulted in a new visual language for color photography—most notable in American Prospects. Sternfeld, along with other colorists like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, was instrumental in the emergence of the medium.

First Pictures was published in 2021 by the Steidl publishing house. The book is composed of four distinct bodies of work: Happy Anniversary Sweetie Face!, Nags Head, Rush Hour, and At the Mall, New Jersey.

American Prospects, (first published in 1987, and reissued several times, most recently in 2023) is Sternfeld's most well-known work. It explores the complexity of human-altered landscapes in the United States and their possible meanings. He began working on the project in 1978 with the support of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and continued the work with a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, followed by a second Guggenheim. Using a large-format camera, his photographs recall the traditions of 19th century photography, yet are applied to everyday scenes—such as a Wet 'n Wild waterpark or a suburban street in the South.

American Prospects was first exhibited at Daniel Wolf Gallery in 1980 to great acclaim. It was later shown at MoMA in a three-person exhibition, Three Americans, where Sternfeld presented his work alongside Robert Adams and Jim Goldberg