Stephen Johnson Photography News

April 2026

Hello to my subscribers and guest readers. Thanks for visiting this April 2026 newsletter.

The task that has consumed me for three months is moving out of my studio/gallery of 21 years and into half a studio space, still at the Pacifica Center for the Arts. There was, and is, much to give away, much to sort through, and some rethinking of my public face.

This month's View From Here column explores some of the moving process, how I am thinking about these past 26 years, the loss of my dear friend Marsh Pitman and imagining paths forward.

Meanwhile my work continues. I will be giving a talk on my Urban Eden Golden Gate Park at the Odd Fellows Club in Half Moon Bay April 16, 2026 at 7pm with a small exhibit reception at 6pm.

As I mentioned in the January Newsletter, with my studio/gallery closing, the existing exhibitions I have created are available for loan to museums and galleries. They include Life From, With a New Eye: The Digital National Parks Project, Exquisite Earth, selections from The Great Central Valley Project and the 50 Years of Space Photography. You can check out the exhibit loan possibilities here.

Having now successfully run my first class in the new studio, I have scheduled another session of my Fine Art Digital Printing class for May 16-19, 2026 and another August 8-11. I am reducing the class size to three and If you want to join me, register soon.

Thanks for so many friends that helped with the move, and to all of you for your support over the years.

— Steve

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

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.

Fungus. Yosemite Valley. 1978.

I made this photograph on one of my early Yosemite workshops walking the class along the Mirror Lake trail in 1978. Making the photograph became a good class demonstration. It was one of the first trips with my new Mamiya RB67 and I was delighted with the camera and the negatives it could produce. Plus it had the advantage of the waist level finder, keeping it low to the ground for this image, which made making the photograph pretty easy. I was proud then, and remain so now, of the almost alien form abstraction and the high contrast plus development of the negative.

I’m offering an un-matted 11-inch-wide print of this photograph for $195. Larger prints can be ordered. This print at this price is offered through April 30. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by May 15, 2025. The image reverts to its normal price after that, $800 for an 11x14, $1500 for a 16x20 print.

Peace. Navarro Beach, CA. 2025

A beach offering from a year ago that seems very appropriate right now.

THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson

Endless Moving, Digging Out, Moving Forward

After three months of what seemed like an endless process, I’m am out of the my old studioi/gallery space at the Pacifica Center for the Arts, and am now sharing Studio 15 as a work and teaching space.

It is amazing how many tools and options one can build when you’ve got space and you invest time. I had various workspaces around the studio, one for copying, one for video editing, and one for color management. There were spaces deigned for teaching, matting and framing, and business management. Although the available space for the move dictated much was given away or disposed of, I’ve tried to very carefully hold onto and make orderly many of these specific tools. Although it will take sometime to sort through, organize and downsize further, I believe I have preserved most of my options in my home workspaces and the new studio.

A Mind Shift

As challenging as the move was, moving forward without my galleries is a big mind shift. For 26 years, I have been printing at will, and had a place to display those prints. Over the years, whole bodies of work emerged out of that freedom as themes evolved and exhibitions were conceived of and constructed.

Much of that has now changed, as I’m more in the mode I was before my first commercial space before 1999. Of course, that is the same place most photographers live, exhibitions exist in galleries, museums, community arts spaces and other places to connect with the public. Change can be hard.

Still Much to Give Away

My Dear Friend Marsh Pitman

It is with great sadness that I report that my dear friend of 56 years, Marsh Pitman, passed away in February at 98 years old. Marsh was a totally unique human being, and was very important in my life, providing advice, affection, support and friendship. Marsh had a uniquely direct way of speaking, you knew he was absolutely focused on the conversation, was focused on the interaction, and in my case, focused on me. Lucky me.

Over the last years, every time I was down in the Monterey area I would try to go visit Marsh and his wife Mary Beard. Of course I could see him weaken over the years, but I was always glad to spend the time with him and Mary. I brought a few very dear friends to meet him, as I knew they would see, as I did, just how very special he was and get a glimpse of why he was so special to me.

Marsh and I met through politics for for the California Coastal Intuitive in 1970. A year later, I enlisted Marsh to become the county co-chairman of the McGovern for President campaign in 1972.

Many years later Marsh provided the critical introduction to his former Stanford classmate George Lindsey, Director of the California Academy of Sciences which set the stage for the At Mono Lake exhibition to be featured at the museum. George also provided an introduction to environmental icon David Brower who came on the non-profit sponsor of the exhibition through Friends of the Earth Foundation. This sequence of events changed my life.

Thank you dear friend Marsh.

In a 2019 Newsletter article I wrote about a visit:

On the way back home I stopped to see one of my oldest friends, Marsh Pitman. Now living in Monterey, he was a professor of Ecology at Merced College, Marsh became a friend 50 years ago. I was entering high school with my 13 year old aspirations to make a difference against the war in Vietnam, and Marsh’s involvement in local Democratic politics led our paths to cross. Eventually we became county co-chairs of the McGovern Campaign in 1971, Marsh about 45, me 15, and have been friends ever since.

On my last visit back in December, Marsh showed me his basement library that he is sorting through. I was quite taken with the sight of him among his books, shelved and boxed. I said I would like to come back and photograph him down there and he agreed that would be fine.

There was no way my few photographs could sum up my feelings for this wonderful man and friend, but it was a first take on it, and I hope I’ll get to make more on a future visit. I always enjoy his company and warmth.

The new studio walls carry forward the display of larger prints from from the previous studio/gallery drawn from various projects in my career.

Currently my up on the walls are my Trees, Firtzgerald Reserve, Last Light on Half Dome Yosemite, Wildflowers Carrizo Plain, Carrizo Flowers and Storm, the Hale Telescope Palomar Observatory, the Life Form featured print Staghorn Fern, prints from the new and forming Organic Landscapes work and Point Reyes Aurora. I seem to always find a place for my 20 inch print of Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother. Four print bins remain browsable through subjects ranging from Rock and Roll, Ireland, Iceland, parks, and local photographs as well as my library of books I’ve created over the last 44 years..

Virtual Educational Experiences

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 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. 

Virtual Mentoring

Set up time for me to help with your photographic work, remote or in-person. 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.

Virtual Mentoring/Consulting

Existing Online Tutorials

My Essays and Tutorials from the past couple of years can now be found on my Newsletter Archive.

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.

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, guest presentations, demos, and photo feedback. Let me know if you would like to join us.

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 produced the print 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. 

Print On Demand Book Projects over the last few years

Click on the book covers above to learn more and purchase.

I finished three new books in 2023. Water: A Photographic Portrait launched the winter, and the new Cliffside Peregrines and Fauna books were finished at the end of the year.

I sold out of the first run of the Fauna book and have reordered all three of the new books for the studio stock.

The links here go to my printer Magcloud, where you can order them directly.