He did a conventional training course in photography. Today he lives and works in Paris. In 1998, he contributed to his first group exhibition, Janvier de bourgogne (January in Burgundy), in Châlons-sur-Saône. He then took part in several international contemporary-art events, including the Paris Photo festival (1999), Art Basel in Miami with the Torch Gallery and Art London with the Jibby Bean Gallery (both in 2001), Art Brussel for the Galerie Franck (2003) and the Photo du Liban festival in Beirut (2004). In the same year he staged his first solo exhibition, Photographier la lumière(Photographing Light) at the Galerie Franck in Paris. Catherine Millet wrote the texts for the exhibition catalogue. Joël Denot's work also features in several books on current creative output, including Les années 90 by Anne Bony (Editions du Regard, 1999) and La photographie plasticienne by Dominique Baquet (Editions du Regard, 1999).