Joel van Houdt (b. 1981, the Netherlands) is an independent photojournalist based in London.

He studied Photography and Design in Bradford, UK, and graduated from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague in 2003, with a project on the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. He began working as a freelance photojournalist in the Netherlands in 2002, focusing on long-term projects about migration and the former Soviet Union.

His work engages with the long-term effects of political conflict and migration, with an emphasis on everyday life beyond the news cycle.

From 2010 to 2015, he was based in Afghanistan and continued to work there regularly until 2022. This work culminated in the book AFGHANISTANISM (2026). During this period, he also spent time living and working in Kyiv and Moscow before relocating to London in 2020.

His work has appeared in publications including The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, TIME, Der Spiegel, and The Wall Street Journal, among others.