Stephen Johnson Photography News
December 2020
Wave Stack at Sunset. Pacifica, 2020. Canon R5.
Prelude: Under State of California mandates, as I understand them, I must close my gallery again, even to the special appointments we were starting to make. I will work with anyone wanting to see work in some fashion, even meeting you outside my gallery with prints in hand. Masked and socially distanced, of course.
Upcoming Workshops and Sales:
Death Valley in Winter
January 23-26, 2021
No Gallery Print Sale
40% off all prints during shutdown
Welcome to the December 2020 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter.
With the election results being absurdly contested, the truth and calm I was hoping for is still elusive. Again photography helps, not only with filling the need and instinct to create, but with keeping me engaged in being out and about. My art has been my refuge during this pandemic. I hope your appreciation and/or creation of art has helped all of you too.
— Steve
This month's View From Here column ponders some Small Adventures, Creative Impulses and the Pandemic. Our new Virtual Classes are continuing to broaden with new offerings including my new Projects Lecture Series continuing with The Great Central Valley: Back to My Homeland on January 13. I hope you find the column interesting and will consider sending me some comments. As these Newsletters can cover many subjects, let me know of topics you would like to see addressed.
Workshops are currently are moving to virtual where possible. All workshops currently scheduled are subject to necessary corona virus spread prevention logistics.
FEATURED PRINTS December 2020
A Green Flash on the Setting Sun. 2020. Canon EOS R5, 600mm lens.
Green Flash Sunset. 2020.
Canon EOS R5, 600mm lens.
My dusk walks afforded another opportunity to catch the elusive green flash above the setting sun. My method is simple, use a very long lens, expose to hold detail (even in red channel) and high speed shutter release. Then hope.
We're offering a 11x14 inch print of each photograph for $195, matted to 16x20 inch board or both for $325 unmatted. This print at this price is offered through December 31. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by January 15.
Rising Full Moon over Mt. Diablo. 2020.
Canon EOS 5DSr EF400mm f/5.6L USM
We went up for the full moon rising, and got the additional treat of it seeing it emerge beside Mt. Diablo. It was quite a sight.
We're offering a 11x14 inch print of each photograph for $195, matted to 16x20 inch board or both for $325 (unmatted and in time for Christmas for pick-up or shipping dependent). These prints at this price are offered through December 31. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by January 15.
NEW PHOTOGRAPH
Pacifica Forest Sunset. 2020.
DJI Phantom 4.
Working on my flying muscles again and was very pleased with this view looking toward the sunset, complete with lens flares and the Pacifica Ocean.
LATEST NEWS:
As the response to the virus continues to tell us to avoid unnecessary exposure to others, masks and social distancing remain in order, our general gallery closure continues.
Gallery Appointments
The latest Covid-19 restrictions have closed the gallery again. I hope to at least be able to open for special limited viewing appointments again soon. Write to inquire or call 650 355-7507.
With our shutdown closed gallery, I am offering discounted Featured Print sets this month and our print sale reducing prices to what I would normally earn from a gallery sale, 40% off my normal prices. This sale has continued through the shutdown and has been a good contribution to my business continuing and keeping the studio. Thanks to all of you who have taken advantage of the sale and your words of appreciation on having the prints in your hands.
Life From Opening. 2019.
During the virus, I have naturally shifted most of my education programs to online experiences. This is frustrating and rewarding. The new virtual experiences are certainly stretching out my geographical reach. I am certainly excited by our new Virtual Classes Program.
My emerging 2021 Workshop Schedule is being modified to accommodate the virus shutdown and unlikely ability to gather indoors. I remain committed to offering great courses whether in person or virtually. See what a great experience students have had on my Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials.
The early 2021 Workshop Schedule includes one of my favorites, the Death Valley in Winter class January 23-26, 2021 (pandemic dependent). We are doing a socially distanced/masked field trip with only outdoor instruction. I’m continuing virtual lectures as well, the next being the postponed The Project Sessions Great Central Valley Project in January 13, 2021.
See what a great experience students have had on Steve's Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials.
Other Worldly is up in our galleries having joined the new Space Exhibit with the Life Form Exhibition. You can visit by socially distanced, masked appointment limited to two people. I hope to be able to open the galleries to the general visitation in the not too distant future so you can see what is on display at Stephen Johnson Photography.
Upcoming Events & Workshops
Redtail Hawk in Motion, Pacifica, CA. 2020. Canon EOS R5. RF 600mm
THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson
Small Adventures, Creative Impulses and the Pandemic
Fog Rolling into Pacifica. 2020. Canon. Canon EOS 5DS R.
The most fulfilling creative feeling I know is closing out a day with something new, something that never existed before that day. My art thrives on having made an act of creation take place, to have caused it to happen, to bring something into existence that never was before. This is core to whatever artistic soul I possess.
This does get tied up in work-ethic values, but I believe it is more based on the high from creativity itself. Even if the new artwork is not substantial, the value in creation is nurturing. There is almost an intoxication to the creative act.
It is a time when that nurturing can be very important and life-giving in and of itself.
Great Blue Heron Taking Flight. 2020. Canon EOS R5, 100-400mm lens.
A few nights ago I encountered a redtail hawk on my one of my evening walks with only a short lens on my camera. Seeing the bird made me prepare a bit more for the next night’s walk, evaluating lens choices, available light and focal length needs, just in case the bird had started to hang out there.
It was back again, and some of my choices presented other challenges, the new Canon RF 600mm f11 lens was too long and not fast enough. So the next night I took the faster 100mm-400mm lens.
The hawk was gone, but a Great Blue Heron was on the bluffs. This visit was a little earlier, and I was ready. Although a bird in flight photograph relies on luck as well as preparation, I was hopeful to record those magnificent wings in motion.
The Great Blue Heron, it’s head just above the bluff. 2020. Canon R5, 100-400mm lens..
Before the walk, I set the Canon R5 up for ISO2500, 1/640 second at f5.6. The compromise was to not take the ISO too high, still maintain a somewhat fast shutter and not worry too much about depth of field.
Prints and the Virus
So much of my photographic persona has to do with making prints and sharing them with my audience. Whether that is a full fledged exhibition, my monthly featured print, or just new work now rendered into the physical reality of a print in hand. That has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. I no longer expect that people will see my prints. That is tragic in my psyche. Printing was an endeavor linked to finishing an image, proudly declaring that this bit of visual experience has made it all of the way to print, to that tangible form a viewer can simply hold in their hand or put on a wall. That impulse and circle of satisfaction had been derailed by the virus. I no longer think that people will see my prints, therefore I print far fewer. In fact, making a print is now more an act of faith than an expectation of sharing beauty. This all seems sad to me, and I am battling it back as best I can.
In the best of times I wonder, and I am asked, what to do with prints. Many of us make far more prints than we have room to display, aspiration winning over pragmatism. The impulse to render seems separate from a plan to share. We want them to be the same line of thought, and one certainly encourages the other. But finishing a photograph onto a print, is a different impulse than having an easy way for those print to be seen.
During this pandemic that disconnect has become almost profound. I’ve tried various ideas, making more of a point when there are new prints to be seen, putting a table near my gallery front door where new prints can be rotated into display. Of course, in working from home and spending less time in a studio and gallery that is not open to the public, I really don’t know how many people may be seeing them. This column has now put me into a mindset to make a bigger deal about the new prints, so at least local people could drop by and have a look, gallery open or not. It’s not the same, through my entry windows with distance. Ah ha, a new project…
Recent New Print Set.
New Print Window Display. Stephen Johnson Photography. Pacifica Center for the Art. Pacifica, CA. December 2020.
New work, like my Golden Gate Park project, seems premature to invest a lot of time in printing. But in these strange times, printing an unfinished body of work, printing may be very timely. Print to see, print to understand, print to aspire new work to meet the quality and exceed the vision.aspire new work to meet the quality and exceed the vision. So as that project evolves over the year I’ve given myself to work on it, the seduction of prints, we will move through this pandemic times, is seeming ever more important. Even writing this, is talking me into the idea. I like that, working to express what i’m feeling becomes a thought process for how to evolve.
A friend was knocked out by my new Great Blue Heron taking off photograph above, and she asked to buy a print of it. It seemed it would work well on my Museum Etching paper. I know that, even with a reasonably good print profile, the all cotton, low gelatin characteristics of that paper, saturation and blacks tend to wick away. I did a typical edit to counter those tendencies and my first print was still flat. I then over compensated and made a harsh print. I then calmed it back down, eventually realizing different areas of the photograph need one treatment, with others needing something gentler. I got reminded very quickly, that my normal print tenacity was fading, and that my dedication to working the print until it was the best it could be had be nurtered. A kind of casual attitude of acceptance of proof prints has started to settle in. This request has exposed this casual weakening of my expectations of what it takes to make a fine print. My mindset is re-setting back.
Recent Work
Golden Gate Park from the southwest at Ocean Beach. 2020. DJI Phamtom Drone.
A Drone’s Perspective
I have often wished for slightly higher perspectives on the world before me. A few years ago, when I first acquired a drone with its aerial perspective, i went to the very different view from fairly high. I like that change, but the only slightly high view is often of more interest to me.
But it varies, there is a series developing of very familiar features seen in new ways.
In Motion
There does seem to be another series emerging from work over the last few years. I’ve always paid attention to motion around me, primarily to freeze it into sharp focus with fast shutter speeds when possible. Other times, the motion seems to be the point, and a video of the scene is appropriate. I have featured those over the years in this newsletter.
But there is another kind of recorded motion that has intrigued me, a still frame where the motion is allowed or coincidentally blurred. The Hawk at the head of this column is a recent example, but many have been created lately, making me want to gather them together.
There seems to be an ethereal quality to the motion, almost a dance, in flight, running, waves rolling, water flowing.
Local Icons. Sharp Park Road Aerial. 2020. DJI Phantom 4.
Redtail Hawk Rising. 2020. Canon R5.
Pampas Grass lined Trail near Fairmont Park. Pacifica, CA. 2020. Canon 5D Mark II IR.
Infrared
A friend loaned me his infrared converted Canon 5D Mark II, so I have been plying in the world of IR once again. I am having fun with it, so am now carrying yet another camera.
This is not new for me, my first digital IR experience was with the Betterlight Scanning back and with the Kodak DCS 460M IR. Whether converting directly to black and white, or leaving a color interpretation in place, IR is a visual adventure. Every camera convertion is a little different, in that you can just have the IR filter removed from the camera, or once done replace with a specific wavelength passing filter for narrower IR transmission.
The Betterlight Scanning Back was designed with no IR cutoff filter on the sensor, to make conventional color photographs an IR cutoff filter was placed on the lens. For IR, you simply left if off. For the Betterlight, the ISO jumped from 100 to 800 and the dynamic range also expanded to over 14 stops. More than once, I made photographs of the same scene in these two different ways. I also liked the way the Kodak sensor in the Betterlight rendered the RGB color when flooded with IR and gray balanced in the camera, so often used the strange bluish images as color.
More to come as I explore.
Trees, Fitzgerald Reserve. IR. 1994. Betterlight Scanning Back.
Wizard Island IR, Crater Lake National Park. Oregon. 1994. Betterlight Scanning Back.
Recently at Stephen Johnson Photography
Lectures and Photo Chats
My lecture program continues in with the postponed Project Lecture The Great Central Valley Project on January 13, 2021.
I am also been doing weekly virtual Photo Chats with a groups of photo friends to keep everyone encouraged to keep working, share and problem solve. Let me know if you would like to join us.
Big Waves and Rainbow. Pacifica, CA. 2020. Canon EOS 5DSr.
Local Scenes
Like all of you I’m sure, we immerse ourselves in our local worlds while travel remains virus risky. Car day-trips are still the safest in my mind, But my camera is always with me and the light, fog and sun near the sea is ever changing.
I remain grateful for my surroundings and still see brand new sights all of the time.
Gentle Sunset. Devil’s Slide. Pacifica, CA. 2020. Canon EOS R5.
Featured Print Deal and No Gallery Print Sale
This month’s Featured Prints offers a set of sky connected photographs for $70 off normal prices.
Our 40% Off Sale Original Signed Prints continues. Back in April, virus income shifting and our closed gallery suggested we offer a big print sale. Thanks to those of you who have taken advantage of the offer. Prices have been reduced to what would normally be earned from a gallery sale, 40% off normal prices. This sale is planned to only last through the California shutdown while our gallery and others are closed.
Steve at Shelldance Orchid Nursery. 2020. DJI Phantom 4 drone.
Virtual Experiences
I have now added Virtual Classes and Lectures to the schedule. Critiques are now virtual. In fact, as you might imagine, most all teaching is virtual at the moment. To flush that out, here is a list of the virtual educational opportunities we are offering.
Virtual Classes and Lectures. A series of new online live classes on various topics with limited space and Q&A sessions.
Making a Print Together: Virtual Workshop. 9am to 11am PST. Saturday January 16, 2021
The Great Central Valley Project. 6pm-7:30pm PST. January 13, 2021
Come Visit the Exhibitions (after the shutdown)
Check out my 50 years of Space Photography Exhibition joining with my Life Form Exhibition as Other Worldly for a mind-blowing journey from the living world close-up to the depths of space.
Although the gallery is currently closed to regular visits for the corona virus shutdown, limited visitation can be arranged by appointment when current restrictions lift.. Come see the shows when you can. Space and awesome life! A dive into cosmic extremes.
The 50 Years of Space Photography Gallery with the five extra Apollo 11 prints.
In front of the Apollo 14 Panoramic, 3rd. Graders from Ocean Shore School in Pacifica visiting the Space Exhibit. 2019. Photo by Sheila Gamble.
Class Visits
Post-virus, when school is back in classroom, we will again welcome teachers bringing their classes by, kids and college students. The kid’s reactions have been inspiring to me, both for the space exhibition and Life Form.
Workshops Coming Up
The next class is our Mastering Fine Art Digital Editing and Printing may be going virtual with an after-class online sessions. All workshops listed are open for enrollment now but subject to virus driven changes. We are exploring more virtual classes.
Please consider joining us on one of our upcoming workshops. Enrollment is the key to continuing to offer these classes and keep the studio running. We hope to hear from you.
I’ve always been drawn to historical photographs and maps. I’ve been collecting 19th century books, engravings and now making scans of photos and maps. Printed on just the right paper and sheen, the reproductions are often vey special in their own right. So I’ve decided to make some of these prints available as I print them and discover more.
The first few are from the San Francisco Bay Area, local to my home in Pacifica, We’ll make them both available as 8x10 ($35-$45) and 11x14 ($75-$85) with larger sizes available for quote. The Gallery of current offerings where you can place orders can be found here.
Life Form Exhibition
Life Form opened in the Main Gallery at Stephen Johnson Photography in July 2018. The show has been extended into 2021. We have had many visitors come by the gallery since the opening. Many have then joined workshops and certainly helped build community. Please come see the show. Pass the word.
Seeking Good Venues for Life Form
We are seeking good venues to show the Life Form Series. The series is now available for museum and gallery exhibition.
Life Form Announcement. 2018
Don't forget to Check out our next workshops
Next Studio Workshop
Next Field Workshop
Red Pass. Death Valley National Park. CA
The Studio, Scholarships, Mentoring and Tutorials
As part of our ongoing commitment to photographic education, there is one student scholarship spot in many of our classes. Please pass the word along.
For discounted time studying with Steve, keep in mind our Mentoring Program.
With all of our busy schedules and limited budgets, destination workshops or classes become a challenge, but many of you still have questions you need answered, or feedback on some new work. We want to remind you of our Virtual Online Consulting Program. This service allows all of you out there around the globe to consult online live with Steve on technical, aesthetic and workflow issues using Skype and your webcam.
Our Essays and Tutorials from the past couple of years can now be found on our Newsletter Archive and some on Google Blogger.
We hope you can come by the gallery and see the original prints in the new Life Form Gallery and its new Life Form Portfolio, the Exquisite Earth exhibition with its accompanying very special Exquisite Earth Portfolio 1. We invite you to join us on a workshop, rent lab space, or just say hello and let us know what you are up to photographically and what you might like to see us offer. We value your input.
Print Mentor Program
Many of my mentoring students have wanted help with their printing, often to make sure they can produce a specific print. Consequently, I am starting a Print Mentoring Program that sets up a 2 hour time slot and the production of a finished print, all with the tutorial video of how we did it together. Prints can be up to 16x20 and on either Hahnemühle Museum Etching or Photo Rag Pearl paper. Fee is $500. Email for more information and to set up times.
Free and For Sale
Free Stuff (a few items still left)
I have been printing out nice copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights on rich cotton paper. You are welcome to a copy if you come by the gallery.
Additionally, I rescued a few Beseler Enlargers, a 23c and 4x5, hoping to find good homes for them. Make an offer.
Equipment for Sale
None at this time.
New Space Photography Products
Apollo 11 Collectors Portfolio
A suite of photographs from Apollo 11. 12 pigment inkjet prints on letter-sized paper selected, edited and printed by photographer Stephen Johnson, in a portfolio box. The set includes a Mission Summary book, original US Postal Stamp commemorating the Mission, the Mission patch and a schematic of the Lunar Module. $250
Apollo 11 Collectors Portfolio examples.
50 Years of Space Photography Exhibition Catalog
The Exhibtion catalog featuring photograhs from Planetary probes, the Hublle Space Telescope, Lunar explorations, the Apollo program and Space Shuttle/Space Station images. Includes an exploration of the imaging technologies emplyed by the spacecraft.
68 pages, 8.5x11 inches
Other Worldly Exhibition Catalog.
Apollo 11 Photography Book
A 96 page 8.5x11 inch collection of Apollo 11 photographs from launch to recovery including contact sheets for every surface Hasselblad photograph.
It’s the collection I wish I could have bought, so I made it.
-96 pages
-7 sections, Lunar Photo Equipment, Preparation, On the Way, Lunar Orbit, Tranquility Base, Heading Home, Relics
-Film Magazine proofs
Life Form Folio
The Life Form Folio
When we premiered the Life Form Exhibition, I wanted to have a collectible item and record of the show prior to the full book I plan. So, now available is the 36 page 11x17 wire bound book, 5 years of work from 2013 to 2018 exploring these magnificent lives.
Photographs from 2013-2018
36 pages
11x17 wire-bound book
$40
Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog
Page 41
page 13
The Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog
As I've been on a roll on fixing bodies of work into POD books, I decided before the Exquisite Earth show could come down for new upcoming show, I wanted to create a printed record. So, now available is the 56 page 11x17 wire bound book, 5 years of work from 2005 to 2010 traveling this wondrous planet.
Photographs from 2005-2010
56 pages
11x17 wire-bound book
$40
Pacifica Book
A collection of photographs in and around Pacifica California. Include a trail map.
74 pages
11x17 wire-bound book for full lay-flat opening and enjoyment
Pacifica Trail Map
32 years in Pacifica
10 years of calendars
$50
Page 7
Page 27
Pacifica Trail Map by Pease Maps special to the Pacifica Land Trust.
11" x 17" folded
$10 (free shipping) proceeds go the Pacifica Land Trust a non-profit 501c3.
Gift Certificates for Prints and Workshops!
Emailed or shipped with beautiful gift note card.
Life Form Note cards
5x7 inches (sold-out, on backorder)
$25
12 image Note card set with envelopes featuring photographs from Steve's new Life Form work.
Printed by Steve in his studio in very limited numbers on a color laser digital press
National Park Note cards
National Park Color Note Card Set
Stephen Johnson
12 cards/envelopes $20 set
From "With a New Eye" Beautiful 300 line screen offset reproductions with envelopes in clear box. A great gift.
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After a few years of working intensely on my Urban Eden Golden Gate Park project, I am excited to offer a two-day photographic workshop in this complex and beautiful landscape. Now 150 years old, this park symbolizes parkland engineering and the earth itself taking its own course of life and fecundity. The park will be explored over two days with a blend of photographic opportunity, assistance, and my growing knowledge of its own back woods. This springtime weekday workshop will avoid some of the weekend crowds.