Stephen Johnson Photography News
September 2023
Cliffside Sunset. Pacifica, CA. 2023.
Welcome to the September 2023 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter
Greetings to my guests and subscribers. Thanks for visiting my September newsletter.
This month's View From Here column explores recent photography, some family history through photos and artifacts, and builds on my knowledge of a photographer from the 1920s who created a collection of glass-plate negatives I was gifted many years ago.
Responding to a student need, I have rescheduled my Photoshop Selections, Adjustment Layers, Tone and Color class to October 7–8, 2023. For those who need Adobe Photoshop help—there’s one space left.
The Seeing Beauty in Photography seminar is coming up on September 23.
My next Black and White Vision and Printing workshop is October 21–22, with the Masterful Fine-Art Printing hands-on workshop being offered November 4–7.
— Steve
As these newsletters can cover many subjects, let me know of topics you would like to see addressed.
FEATURED PRINT September 2023
Ash Tower and River. Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. Katmai National Park, Alaska. 1995. Betterlight Scanning back on 4x5 Sinar camera.
This photograph came to mind in recognition of the September 24 anniversary of Katmai National Monument’s creation in 1918. The picture itself was made on August 29, so it seemed like a good period to offer it up as this month’s Featured Print.
This image has been one of the most recognized photographs from my digital national parks project, With a New Eye. This 1995 scene pictures a tower of volcanic ash carved around by the Katmai River, 83 years after a volcanic eruption filled the valley with that ash in 1912. The Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes name refers to all of the volcanic steam vents that found their way up through that 80 feet of ash, making for a mountainside of steamy, “smokey” vents.
I’m offering a 14-inch-wide print of this photograph for $195, matted to 16”x20”. This print at this price is offered through September 30. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by October 15.
February 1998 Cover of Electronic Publishing.
Maui Fire Relief donation has been added as print Purchase Option. Unmatted 14-inch-tall print for $165. Full price goes to relief.
NEW PHOTOGRAPH September 2023
Cloud and Fog Bank. Pacifica, CA. 2023.
Cloud and Fog Bank. Pacifica, CA. 2023.
Gazing out at the Pacific Ocean is one of my favorite things to do. Occasionally, wonder presents itself, as it did with this spherical cloud floating in front of a fog bank moving in.
LATEST NEWS:
Photo Chats
Most every Tuesday morning since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have been doing weekly virtual Photo Chats on Zoom with groups of photo friends. They are casual, virtual get-togethers, and have created a little community, with regular sharing, guests presentations, demos, and photo feedback. Let me know if you would like to join us.
New Prints in the Gallery
There are new prints available to see in the gallery, from the spring Super Bloom to the Golden Gate Park Project and the evolving Animal Series.
Current Exhibitions
The current exhibitions in the gallery include 50 Years of Space Photography and Life Form—a collection I call Other Worldly.
Visiting the Gallery
My galleries and studio are generally open 10am–5pm. Write to inquire or call 650 355-7507 to schedule an appointment. Masks required.
Subscribe to my Blog
As I’ve mentioned in my last few newsletters, I’ve renewed more frequent postings on my blog derived from my newsletters and Facebook posts. I’m gradually moving other blog forums no longer supported to this one central place. You can view or subscribe at: https://sjohnsonphoto.wordpress.com
Virtual Classes
My virtual classes program, launched in 2020, has allowed me to reach students around the world. I remain committed to offering great courses whether in person or virtually. See what satisfying experiences students have had on my workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials.
Photo Chat on Stereo Photography
Stephen Johnson Photography Blog
Upcoming Events & Workshops
View From Here
Lake Yosemite. 2023.
THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson
Family, Home, Memories, and History
August has been mostly working in the studio, but my mom’s birthday brought me back around to thinking about family, history, and photography’s power to make the past feel real again.
In my case, family is from California’s Great Central Valley. And heading there this August meant heading into 106°F heat. It was not beyond my experience, but noticeably hotter than when I grew up there sixty years ago.
Like many of my newsletters, this one explores some recent outings, photo research, museum visits, and the family film explorations.
Clouds Above San Luis Reservoir. Merced County. 2023.
Family History, Photographs, and Stories
Portrait and Dress. c1944.
The 95th anniversary of my mom’s birth was this month. This fall she will have been gone 10 years. In January my niece brought me a box of contents from my mom’s Hope Chest that mom had kept her whole adult life. As I unpacked the box, I instantly recognized a dress my mom wore around 79 years ago in this c1944 portrait when she was about 16. The connection with her memory, my memory of this photograph, the hand-tinted version her sister had colorized in the 1950s, and the tangible physical object of her dress held onto for all of those years all became sacred to me. Holding that dress, rejoined with the portrait, was very emotional.
Photo Studio Location, Second Arch From Left. 2023.
After my mom’s birthday, I went on a little 150-mile journey to the past. Thanks to the rubber stamp on the photo, I found the location of the photo studio where the portrait was made, next to the classic 1931 Merced Theater (second arch in from the left in photo above). I now have an image in my mind of my mom, likely with her younger sister Mary, two teenagers walking the eight blocks over to the studio from where they lived, anxious for the portrait with her new dress. I can't help but wonder what the portrait cost, and how much planning and saving it took to have it made.
The hand-colored alternative view. Color by her sister, my Aunt Mary. I always remembered this version, it is precious.
Sisters. c1948.
Lake Yosemite From Its Wharf. 2023.
Places from Memory
My recent trip included a visit to Lake Yosemite, where I learned to swim. The semi-circular wharf had the first diving board I ever braved. In the middle of the wharf’s arc was a pier, impossibly far across the water for my eight-year-old self. But I did eventually reach it.
Lake Yosemite. 1973.
The lake was also an easy “natural” location for my early days involved in photography, from my early 35mm color slides to 120 film and beyond.
Original Film and Lake Yosemite
My mom was a rich mixture of deep humanity, engaging personality, and a collector.
One of the benefits of her “collector” character is that she saved all of her negatives. As I got interested in photography in the early 1970s, I asked her for the negatives and started to organize them. I have long since put almost all of them into polyethylene sleeves, and made some attempts to restore the order of the rolls of film.
Lake Yosemite is a local recreation area in Merced, originally made as an adjunct storage area for irrigation water. In my mom’s collection, there were family pictures of her, my aunt, my cousin, and me out on the lake’s wharf around 1960.
I am now rediscovering many of the family heirloom photos, not only in the stacks of vintage prints, but in the negatives too. The lake and the wharf reminded me of the 1960 prints I had seen since childhood. The negatives were pretty easy to find and gave me a deeper path to follow down during a week exploring my family history. The reality of holding the film in my hand, the film that was there on site, in my mother’s hand, that tangible object, matters to me. The film has emotional power that a digital file does not have. Our digital files are duplicates, the film was there.
Mom. Lake Yosemite. 1960.
Me. Lake Yosemite. 1960.
Wharf. Lake Yosemite. Merced, CA. 2023.
Presumed European Immigrant Parents and Thoroughly American Children. Merced County. Circa 1920s. Frank Day Robinson.
My trip to the Central Valley took me down another research path as well. In the 1980s, I was given a set of glass-plate negatives made by a commercial photographer Frank Day Robinson from the 1920s from in and around Merced County. I did know much about him, so I went by to the Merced Public Library to see what could find. As it turned out, I did find quite a bit, his listing in the local Polk’s Directory (the era’s version of a telephone book) from at least 1922 to 1934, and a few ads. I found a promo bio in a history of Merced County. A visit to the Merced County Courthouse Museum also yielded some pictures of Robinson.
A Personal Digression
Another old photograph came to my attention on the same trip.
In the course of going through microfilm of the local newspaper looking for Robinson’s obituary, I thought to look up some personal history. I remembered that in my work for the George McGovern presidential campaign in 1972, the newspaper did a little article on me and my upcoming trip to the Democratic National Convention in Miami. I looked through June and July of 1972, and surprisingly found it was actually a front page article on my then 16-year-old self. I remembered the article being inside the paper, not on the front page.
I don’t remember anything about the making of the photograph. But I do remember the elderly gentleman, a self-proclaimed Republican, who got in touch to contribute the remaining funds I needed for the trip to the Miami Convention. He asked me to come over to his home, then proceeded to tell me he could not support my candidate, but wanted to support my working for my convictions in our democracy. Thinking back to that exchange, it seems impossible to happen in our current political climate.
I had never really looked at the photo at the top of the page, and couldn’t make it out on the microfilm. The Merced County Courthouse Museum had all of the original papers, and the staff were nice enough to dig out the original page. That made the photo on top visible. It happens to be of the M Street bridge across Bear Creek, with the hospital behind. To the right of the cross is the building I was born in. I found that fascinating.
Roadside Fence, Hills, Grasses, and Eurasian Dock. 2023.
A Day Trip to Grizzly Island
Something has been drawing me out to the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area on the Carquinez Strait. It is not far from where the great rivers of California, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, join and form a delta. I had not been out that way since my work on the Great Central Valley Project in the early 1980s. I knew August was not the right time of year for many birds to be present, but I remembered it as a starkly lonely place that had touched me.
I was not disappointed in my few hours driving through the area at the end of August. As I drove south into the refuge towards the strait, the road got ever smaller and rougher, there was almost no one around, holding the exact feeling I hoped for. Fortunately the weather brought high clouds and a breeze, giving some relief from the August heat.
Eucalyptus, Levee, and Wetlands. Grizzly Island. 2023.
The color work reflected what I saw that day, but I am also very tempted by the black and white possibilities.
I see a silvery, high-key quality to the prints. It will be good to experiment a bit and see if the glow I have in mind can be made into a print.
Of course, if you want to explore just that kind of issue, my Black and White Vision and Printing class is coming up October 21–22.
Gateway Generating Station, almost buried in the haze across the Carquinez Strait from Grizzly Island. 2023.
Sunbow Over Carquinez Strait. 2023.
In the Neighborhood
Orange Blue Moon Rising Over San Francisco Bay. August 30, 2023.
Recently at Stephen Johnson Photography
Among the Sierra Nevada. 1868. Albert Bierstadt. Smithsonian American Art Museum. Washington DC.
My recent visit to Washington, DC, gave me a chance to see a classical landscape painting of my near home mountain range. Back home in my studio I was thinking about the painting again and mulling over western cultural notions of beauty and reality.
Albert Bierstadt made grand and wonderful paintings in the late 19th century. They create a world of wonder, rather than depict it. Bierstadt was well-known and respected for this work. Paintings always have the hand and vision of the artist as part of how they are understood. Many created a kind of aspirational reality. Bierstadt is a good example of that.
The disparity between those paintings and the real world reminds me of what a photographer friend of mine once told me after I inquired about his photograph with a very exaggerated rainbow—“it may not be what I saw, but it was what I felt.” That conversation stayed with me.
Beauty, interpretation, intent, and context are all part of how art in all forms is understood. Given sufficient imposition of unreal effects, photography may be much the same.
A photograph is understood to be made by a lens gathering light. But, as I have said for decades, when a photograph has a facade of “reality” that makes it looks real, and it is not, it would benefit viewers if they are informed that they are looking at something somewhat more synthetic. This issue is arising again with the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), where generated imagery imitates photographic reality, but as fiction. We’ll see how AI fiction grows into reality distortion. Perhaps it will simply become another distinct pseudo-art form.
Seeing Beauty Class
Exploring our notions of beauty, reality, composition, and making art is the subject of my Seeing Beauty class coming up in late September.
Promo for Seeing Beauty Class. 2023.
Virtual Educational Experiences
Steve in his Life Form Gallery. February 2021.
Virtual Classes and Lectures, online live classes on various topics with limited space and Q&A sessions, are now a regular part of my workshop program. Critiques are now virtual.
Photo Chats
I’ve been doing weekly virtual Photo Chats with groups of photo friends to keep everyone encouraged to keep working, creating a forum to share and problem-solve. I’ve now built a webpage on the chats. Let me know if you would like to join us.
Come Visit the Exhibitions (masked visits by appointment)
The 50 Years of Space Photography Gallery with the five extra Apollo 11 prints.
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. Space and awesome life! A dive into cosmic extremes. Email to book an appointment.
In front of the Apollo 14 Panoramic, 3rd Graders from Ocean Shore School in Pacifica visiting the Space Exhibit. 2019. Photo by Sheila Gamble.
Life Form Exhibition
Life Form Announcement. 2018
Life Form opened in the Main Gallery at Stephen Johnson Photography in July 2018. I’ve had many visitors come by the gallery since the opening. Many have then joined workshops and certainly helped build community. Come see the show by appointment.
Seeking Good Venues for Life Form
I’m seeking good venues to show the Life Form Series. The series is now available for museum and gallery exhibition.
The Studio, Scholarships, Mentoring and Tutorials
As part of my ongoing commitment to photographic education, there is one student scholarship spot in many of my classes. Please pass the word along.
For discounted time studying with me, keep in mind my 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. I want to remind you of my Virtual Online Consulting Program. This service allows all of you out there around the globe to consult online live on technical, aesthetic and workflow issues.
My Essays and Tutorials from the past couple of years can now be found on my Newsletter Archive.
I 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. I invite you to join me on a workshop, rent lab space, or just say hello and let me know what you are up to photographically and what you might like to see me offer. I 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, my Print Mentoring Program 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. Free to anyone who will use them.
Equipment for Sale
Previously owned, but pristine, visually unused.
Canon Lenses
Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM lens $400
Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM Lens $375
Canon RF 600mm f/11 IS STM Lens $550
Gift Certificates Available for Prints and Workshops!
Water book cover.
Water: A Photographic Portrait
My new book Water: A Photographic Portrait, now available to order.
88 pages of color and black and white photographs
11x17 inches
Wire bound for completely flat enjoyment
Life Form Folio
The Life Form Folio
When I 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-inch, wire-bound book, featuring five years of work from 2013 to 2018 exploring these magnificent lives.
Photographs from 2013–2018
36 pages
11x17-inch wire-bound book
$40
Pacifica: A Photographic Portrait of Land and Sea
Page 7
Page 27
A collection of photographs in and around Pacifica, California. Includes a trail map.
74 pages
11x17-inch, wire-bound book for full lay-flat opening and enjoyment
Pacifica Trail Map
32 years in Pacifica
10 years of calendars
$50
Gift Certificates for Prints and Workshops!
Emailed or shipped with beautiful gift note card.
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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.