Stephen Johnson Photography News
July 2021
A tranquil pastel dusk on the cliffs from June 23, 2021. Canon EOS 5DSr.
Upcoming Workshops and Print:
Kinder Gentler HDR Virtual Lecture
August 19, 2021
Many Views
Twenty Photographs Set
a fine art boxed print set
Welcome to the July 2021 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter.
The long nightmare of the pandemic seems to be easing as vaccinations increase, but as they plateau and variants emerge, I am remaining cautious. However, I do now feel comfortable scheduling outdoor workshops starting in December with my Highway One Coastal Journey. Gallery visits by appointment with virus protocols in place. We are anxious to move on from this isolation and distance, my virtual classes, Photo Chats and appointment visits will all help.
— Steve
This month's View From Here column explores some new photographs, print projects and film-copying stories. Our Virtual Classes are continuing to broaden with the Virtual Seminars offering Kinder Gentler HDR. August 18, 2021, a new Virtual Critique Session August 19 and the Black and White Vision and Printing virtual workshop August 21-22. The Masterful Fine Art Digital Printing: Virtual Workshop is offered again on September 2021. A new 20 print set Many Views: Twenty Photographs, is being offered emerging from these last 18 months of work during very challenging times. 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 balanced between virtual class and field workshops starting again late this year. All workshops currently scheduled are subject to necessary corona virus spread prevention logistics.
FEATURED PRINT July 2021
Pinnacles in the Mist. Pinnacles National Park. 2021.
Two image stitch with Canon R5 using the RF600mm F11 IS STM lens
Morning Mist on Cliffs. A three frame panoramic stitch with the Canon EOS R5 and their RF600mm lens. From a hike on May 17, 2021 with my good friends Ed and Angie Stone. We went hoping to see some California Condors, did see plenty of Turkey Vultures and the majestic rock towers of the park. We were greeted by unexpected cloud cover dancing a retreat along the ridge line causing a stunning transition from morning mist into open sunlight. There are so many images from that short 15 minutes of wonder that it was almost arbitrary which to work on first, but this line cliff tops and mist stood out.
We're offering an 11x11 inch print of the photograph for $195, matted to 16x20 inch board. This print at this price is offered through July 31. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by August 15.
NEW PHOTOGRAPH
California Quail Couple
Canon EOS R5, RF600mm lens.
Sometimes the most ordinary of circumstances can be magical. A rustle in a Redwood grabbed my attention as I walked out my door toward my car. It turned out to be an adult California Quail. I grabbed my R5 with the RF800mm still on it from whale watching. The bird was too close to focus, I switched to the RF600mm and listened for the bird in the tree. It turned out to be multiple adults and more than a dozen babies which paraded before our eyes, even posing on the fence before they hopped up the hillside into Golden Gate National Park.
LATEST NEWS:
As anti-virus caution continue to tell us to avoid unnecessary exposure to others, masks and social distancing remain a good idea as the variants emerge and our general gallery masked/distance appointment policies are now allowing some visitation.
Gallery Appointments
The Covid-19 restrictions and now cautions that have kept the gallery mostly closed, do allow me to open for special limited viewing appointments. Write to inquire or call 650 355-7507 about an appointment.
Blog Restarted and Growing: Subscribe
As I have mentioned in my last few Newsletters, I have renewed frequent postings on my Blog derived from my Newsletters and Facebooks posts. You can view or subscribe at: https://sjohnsonphoto.wordpress.com
Virtual Classes
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 2021 Workshop Schedule continues to evolve to accommodate the virus precautions and very limited ability to gather indoors.
Some plans are being now made on the assumption that the vaccine is ever more available and will then become a prerequisite for the class.
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.
Stephen Johnson Photography Blog.
The 2021-2022 Workshop Schedule is evolving, continuing with the HDR Kinder & Gentler virtual lecture August 18, 2021. I have now scheduled the first of my pandemic cautious field workshops, Highway One Coastal Journey in December, Death Valley in Winter and Yosemite in Winter for 2022.
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 50 Years of Space Photography Exhibit with the Life Form Exhibition. Hopefully you can visit soon by appointment, socially distanced, masked and limited to two people. I hope to be able to open the galleries to general visitation in the not too distant future so you can see what is on display at Stephen Johnson Photography.
Upcoming Events & Workshops
Skyline Trail near La Honda, CA. 2021. Canon R5.
THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson
Local and Memory Travels
As people are gearing up for many trips, I am still feeling like driving is the best way at this point. I am making some plans for later in the summer and fall, including a cross country drive in the fall.
Meanwhile, local fascinations still fill my frame, often more as documents than art, but still out there trying.
Humpback Whale. 2021. Canon R5
Distant Humpback Whale Fluke. 2021. Canon R5
Way Out Whale Blows. 2021. Canon R5. RF800mm F11 IS STM + EXTENDER RF1.4x
Young Hawk. Pacifica Center for the Arts. 2021. Canon R5.
Lately, that “out there” around here, has meant wrapping up the spring views of maturing falcons and herons, some Humpback Whales passing through, and spending time continuing my work in Golden Gate Park.
It has also meant working in the studio, on archives, digitizing projects and getting some long-term projects moved further along.
Young Peregrine Falcons on Clifftop. Pacifica, CA. 2021. Canon R5
Natural Gestures
It is often those small, little, natural wonders that leave gentle but cumulative effects on us, cementing bonds to the Earth’s natural world. Almost every walk contains some element of just such wonders.
Sap Droplets. Monterey Pine. Pacifica, CA. Canon R5
Dandelion. Skyline Trail. 2021. Canon R5.
Stamen and Petals. Shelldance Orchid Gardens. Pacifica, CA. 2020.
Playing with a loaned Canon MP-E 65mm Macro and a ring light had me wandering the nurseries at Shelldance Orchid Gardens. It was just play, less concerned about depth of field, more intent on the hand-held wander.
Purple Bloom. Shelldance Orchid Gardens. Pacifica, CA.
Orchid close-up. Shelldance. 2021.
Inspirational Video
From YouTube: “Nature's beauty can be easily missed — but not through Louie Schwartzberg's lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day. (Filmed at TEDxSF.)”
Francis Scott Key Statue Pedestal and Monumental Reckoning Installation . Golden Gate Park. 2021. Canon R5.
Golden Gate Park Evolutions
Last year during the Black Lives Matter protests, a statue of National Anthem Star Spangled Banner author Francis Scott Key was torn down in Golden Gate Park.
At first, the context of this attack on the monument was unknown to me. It turns out that Key was not only a slave owner, but an anti-Abolitionist advocate for slavery to continue while returning some enslaved people to Africa.
A sculpture by Dana King has now been officially added around the old Key stature base, “A Monumental Reckoning” abstractly depicting slaves surrounding the site. It was dedicated in honor of our new national holiday Juneteenth on June 18, 2021.
Monumental Reckoning Installation . Golden Gate Park. 2021. Canon R5.
Photoshop Sky Select Feature: The Monument photograph above with the gray sky naturally falling high on the histogram in the camera capture. That challenge seemed a good little test for Photoshop’s Select Sky feature (not the newer Sky Replace). It was a quick way of having Photoshop make the initial selection for adding a Curves Adjustment Layer to the editing to bring the sky down to a slightly more realistic presence. Although it needed a little tweak with a Color Range sky addition along the tree line on the left, it worked pretty well. And yes, using Select/Color Range initially might have eliminated the need to add the left out sky to the selection, but it was nice to see the tool work as well as it did.
Monumental Reckoning Installation Unwound. Golden Gate Park. 2021. Canon R5.
Monumental Reckoning Installation Individuals with Flowers . Golden Gate Park. 2021. Canon R5.
My friend Pete Mauffray on our first backpacking trip. circa 1974.
My friend Donna Ottosen in Oregon on our way back from teaching in Canada. circa 1977.
Old Photos
It’s interesting how snapshots often become the most coveted photographs in our archives. It is often not the photographs made with great care or with artistic intent that draw us in, but the photographs we make of each other. The friends and experiences can become far more important than the serious photos. Successful serious images are rare, but those that make our memories come to life are precious and can be plentiful. Some are shared experiences, events, like concerts, waiting in line at a concert, others just ordinary goofing around.
The value I now attach to my friends and family photos certainly encourage making more, many more. And finding those photos often lead to other discoveries.
George Harrison, Billy Preston, Willie Weeks and Andy Nemark. Cow Palace, San Francisco. November 1974.
Rock and Roll Archive Search: Search terms like Dylan, Baez, Harrison, McCartney.
Me in line at the Cow Palace for Paul McCartney. 1976. Photo by Rick Lopez.
George Harrison,. Cow Palace, San Francisco. 1974.
Snap Shots to Rock and Roll
The George Harrison slides were from his 1974 first and only tour of the US. The San Francisco shows were held at the Cow Palace on November 6-7, 1974. It was the same venue the Beatles played in 1964 and 1965.
I stumbled into the slides when looking for some family and friends images. Four of the many photos were mixed in with people photos from the same period. Somehow, the four had not even made it into the George Harrison 1974 folder in the negative and slide drawers. The friends photos search also pulled up some photos of me, photos I had long forgotten existed, which turned out to be waiting in line to see Paul McCartney two years later in 1976. That discovery led me back to the McCartney folder in my archive, which turned up some glassine enveloped bw negatives that never seemed to have been proofed. After sorting through them on a light table, I was able to reassemble the roll of film, mark the polyethelyne sleeve with a dot for sharp images and copy a few with my camera. The bw of Paul below never saw the light of day, until today’s copy, right through the polyethylene, circuitously retrieved.
These copies were made with my Canon R5, the Canon 100mm macro on my copy stand with 6500k a LED light bulb. The flip around screen on the R5 was very handy, and I discovered that when I was using HDR to encode a contrasty slide, the R5 live histogram gives me a preview of the encoded HDR dynamic range. It was a feature I had simply not previously noticed.
Paul McCartney. Cow Palace. 1976.
Recently at Stephen Johnson Photography
I have created a boxed set of prints from 2020 through May of 2021. A view of my photographic endeavors and fascinations just before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Twenty 14 inch prints in boxed set. Signed and sleeved. $4500.
An Album Cover
Speaking of music, I recently did an album cover session for blues musician Amory Kane. Although masked and careful, it was great to be able to do this kind of work again.
Lectures and Photo Chats
My lecture program continues on with the Virtual Seminar Kinder Gentler HDR. August 18, 2021 6pm to 7:30pm
Photo Chats
I’ve been doing weekly virtual Photo Chats with groups of photo friends to keep everyone encouraged to keep working, share and problem solve. I’ve now built a webpage on the chats. Let me know if you would like to join us.
Virtual Experiences
Steve in his Life Form Gallery. April 2021.
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.
Kinder Gentler HDR. Wednesday evening August 18, 2021 6-7:30pm
Masterful Fine Art Digital Printing: Virtual Workshop. Saturday and Sunday August 28-29, 2021. 9am to 5pm PST.
Come Visit the Exhibitions (masked visits by appointment)
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 not open to regular visits with the corona virus regulations, limited visitation can be arranged by appointment.
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 an additional offering of our Mastering Fine Art Digital Editing and Printing on August 28-29, 2021 and has gone virtual with 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.
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 after the virus. 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 Virtual Workshop
Next Virtual Seminar
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 my neglected Blog.
We hope you can come by the gallery after the virus 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 when you can 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 including twelve 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
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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.