Stephen Johnson Photography News

April 2024

Hello to my guests and subscribers. Thanks for visiting my April 2024 newsletter.

This month's View From Here column reflects on awe and black-and-white re-interpretations, and further explores negative copying.

My next workshop is the Digital Black and White Vision and Printing Class on April 20–21, 2024, with the Golden Gate Park Field Photography Class coming up May 16–17, 2024. My next Masterful Fine Art Digital Photography Printing Class is on June 1–4, 2024.

Open House May 4–5, 2024! The Pacifica Center for the Arts and my studio will be participating in the annual Silicon Valley Open Studios from 11am–5pm. Come by and join the arts scene at the Pacifica Center for the Arts.

— Steve

As these newsletters can cover many subjects, let me know of topics you would like to see addressed.

Sunspots on Sea. 2018.

The magic of sun breaking through the clouds spot lighting the sea…

I’m offering a 14-inch-wide print of this photograph for $195, matted to approximately 16”x20”. Larger prints can be ordered. This print at this price is offered through April 30, 2024. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by May 15, 2024. The image reverts to its normal price after that, $800 for an 11x14, $1500 for a 16x20.

Wild Clouds over Yosemite. 2022.

A wild sky over Yosemite. I enjoyed the color version for a few years, but this black and white interpretation made me appreciate the scene in a whole new way.

THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson

Atmospherics

I’ve created a new category for some of my work, Atmospherics. The term emerged out of the print sorting I undertook in December and January. It seems to fit well into much of what I notice and am often compelled to photograph. My appreciation of sweeps of color, sky, and sea has been going on for decades, but I only recently coined the term.

The sea and sky endlessly remake their palettes and interactions. Watching continues to seduce me. The wonder of subtlety, occasional drama, space, light, and often wild form keep making my heart feel in awe of the wonder.

Black-and-White Reinterpretations

Going through my archives has deepened my love of my black-and-white work. This is sometimes just the rediscovery of black-and-white photographs I love. Sometimes it is seeing a black-and-white possibility out of photographs I previously rendered as color.

In my film days, I frequently made both black-and-white and color versions of the scene because I envisioned real possibilities in both. That was easy with multiple backs/film holders for my Mamiya RB67 and my 4x5 cameras. Now that most images are recorded through red, green, and blue filters with color interpretations as a default, I sometimes have to remind myself no matter how much I love the many colorful scenes I see, there are so many instances where I also envisioned a black-and-white reaction.

I fell in love with photography through black-and-white. The dramatic contrast of work by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, and others gave me inspiration. I plunged into black-and-white film, relished the rich black and intense interpretations, experimented with the Zone System, and sought out heavy silver-rich papers. Meanwhile, my color work was evolving into a deep appreciation of gentle pastel color. It was not long before my black-and-white tastes started to change as well. I became more influenced by Robert Adams than Ansel Adams. I began to see a glow to what a silvery black-and-white print could be, how the light could glow right off the page.

Athough I am still not immune to melodrama in my my black and white work, this movement toward silver, even in the silverless age of digital, has been deep and long. I hope many of these re-interpretations demonstrate that aesthetic.

More Negative Copying into Digital Versions

Sorting through negatives keeps turning up images I want to digitize. This one was one of my early favorites from the At Mono Lake exhibition, so I couldn’t resist copying it when it turned up among other negatives I was looking for. Digression it seems, can be endless.

I have been on a mission since the early 1990s to scan my strongest negatives for use in the digital realm. That project was birthed with the arrival of my LeafScan 45 in 1992. Many of those scans remain as good as I could get today. But the digital files get buried on old machines and old data storage devices, even as I try not to let that happen. There is just so much work that I care about.

February’s Featured Print of Denali in Alaska is a good example. I’ve had a great scan of it for years, but have not had reason to access it for a very long time. Time moves on, new work gets created, and the digital world requires a different kind of long-term treatment than film. I know exactly where the negative is. The older scans are dug out by a digital indexing software I’ve used for a very long time, DiskTracker, which tells me what drive they are on. But drive naming, formats, and interfaces keep evolving…

Virtual Educational Experiences

Virtual Classes and Lectures

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.

Virtual Mentoring/Consulting

Existing Online Tutorials

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

Life Form Exhibition

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

Scholarships

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.

Virtual Consulting

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.

Online Tutorials

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.

Workshop Testimonials

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. 

Gift Certificates Available for Prints and Workshops!

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