Stephen Johnson Photography News

August 2022

Upcoming Workshops:

Ever more small road trips, thinking through what we are saying about this earth with our photographs, amazement at views from the Webb Telescope, on to August…

— Steve

This month's View From Here column explores recent photographs and projects. My Virtual Classes are continuing with A Parade of Influences: A History of Photography through My Eyes August 20, 2022. I’m looking forward to my return to Mono Lake in October for the Mono Lake in Autumn Workshop October 13-16, 2022. Death Valley in January and Yosemite in Winter during February have also been added to start 2023.

As I mentioned in the last few Newsletters, a few big framed original finished prints have become available. My most recent print set is Many Views: Twenty Photographs, emerging from 18 months of work during very challenging pandemic times, is available for order.

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 classes and field workshops. All workshops currently scheduled are subject to necessary corona virus spread prevention logistics.

Surf and Gull. Drakes Beach. Pt. Reyes National Seashore. 2022.

A simple, gentle wave blow-back made me start watching and waiting for the right moment of surf and bird. I was very pleased with the color and light.

I’m offering an 11x14 inch print of this photograph for $195, matted to 16x20 inch board. This print at this price is offered through August 31. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by September 15.

Dune Grass and Sky. Pt. Reyes. 2022

Grassy dunes are a part of what is coastline to me. The dunes of Limontour Beach at Pt. Reyes have gotten my photographic attention many times over the years. They’ve always seemed as much fur as grass.

Virtual Classes

During the virus, I naturally shifted most of my education programs to online experiences. This was frustrating and rewarding. The new virtual experiences certainly stretched out my geographical reach. I have been very pleased by our Virtual Classes Program.

My 2022 and now 2023 Workshop Schedule continues to evolve to accommodate the virus precautions and very limited ability to gather indoors. Now that the vaccine is so available it is a prerequisite for any in-person class.

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. 

Workshop Recap

The 2022 Workshop Schedule continues with my next Virtual Class is A Parade of Influences: A History of Photography through My Eyes August 20, 2022. I’m looking forward to my return to Mono Lake in October for the Mono Lake in Autumn Workshop October 13-16, 2022.

See what a great experience students have had on Steve's Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials.   

Current Exhibitions

Other Worldly is the name I’ve given to the two current exhibitions, 50 Years of Space Photography Exhibit and Life Form. Now that we are open for visits by appointment (socially distanced, masked and limited to two people) please set up a time to come by. 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.

Joy in Deep Space. The Webb Telescope

During one of my Photo Chats last month, a participant showed a photograph of interesting rooflines, then showed the image before he removed a few roof vents. He showed the two to spark a discussion, which it did. As I have maintained since the advent of digital photography and Photoshop, photography has inherent truth-telling power and it is of value to consider how we show our photographs and how our viewers understand heavily doctored images. The discussion became a little emotional, but still friendly, with some good-hearted teasing going on. A post just after in late July by my friend David Blatner on an email forum he posts recalled my 1995 keynote at the first Photoshop Conference in NYC “Imaging Ethics in the Digital Age.” So, another stream of thoughts poured out a few days ago.

We now live in an internet world of fantasy photo landscapes where melodrama and saturation often rule the day, displacing the real light and beauty the photographer might have seen. In an era where truth is being lobbied into being of questionable value, and “alternative truths” being synthesized, I remain convinced that photography is among the few mediums that has the capacity to tell truths about the human visual experience.

As that human visual experience is displaced by photo exaggeration, the value of photography as a medium picturing the world and that very human experience is degraded.

Some will say photography has never been about truth. I assert that is nonsense. Photography’s great value is a general belief that it depicts something real, before the camera. In Japanese, it is my understanding that the characters for photography literally mean “capturing” “truth/reality.”

It is often asserted that a photographer’s choice of lenses, point of view, and moment of capture, inherently destroys its truthfulness. I believe that is absurd. Truths are not universal and all encompassing. Truth is specific. The truths we believe always have a story they are focusing on, always are influenced by subject of the story, not “off camera” subjects. There are also givens, people understand you can be close to something or further away from a camera. It is understood that photography is not a 3D medium without the extra effort of stereo photography or other special immersive techniques. It is understood the world is not black and white. People also know photos can lie, but continue to persist with instincts that a photo is a kind of proof.

A photographer’s choice of visual emphasis can be equated to a writer’s style, choice of words and eloquence. The scene was in fact there, it was made from real light that struck the film or sensor. This is a literal, physical truth. Yes, a photograph is 2D, framed by a non-human rectangle, and a slice of time. But again, these limitatiions are generally understood. Even a practicer of black and white photographic melodrama like Ansel Adams apparently once said “Photographs don’t lie, photographers do.” Because a photographer can choose to purposefully lie about the scene does not make the medium incapable of truth. But a photographer’s choice to possibly lie does have to make the viewer beware and calls upon the photographer to consider the medium’s value as a truth teller.

These are separate considerations from artists using photography as a point of departure to create some derived artwork. The nature of a photograph’s appearance of being real calls the issue into question. Dramatic photographic exaggeration and stylistic effects that are so clearly alterations, where the scene does not appear real are not of great concern to me, and can wonderfully celebrate all that photography can help create. It is when something is dramatically amplified into visual magic, that is then presented, or allowed to be perceived as real, that I believe we a very big problem.

I’ve stood side by side with photographers looking at the same subject, and later been almost astounded at their exaggerations of saturation and contrast. Such so-called “enhancement” are fine if that exaggeration is somehow explained, not just as a general way of working, but in the specific photograph, as the photos do have a way being decontextualized. The photographer can at least try.

A heavily Photoshopped photo could be labeled as such. A composite where images are added to the scene, like the age-old practice of adding other skies, could be labled for the viewer to understand. A photograph where objects are removed could be described as derived from a photograph with content removed. I am not proposing some hard line rules of behavior. I could not draw such lines. But I do believe that given the inherent potential truth of the medium, as photographers, we have some obligations to help the viewer understand what they are looking at. I don’t mean we need to explain our photographs, but that the “truth” issue has a role to play in imagery that might be mistaken as “real.”

I believe that photography can be among the great truth tellers of our time. In such challenging times as the present, we desperately need truth. Art may or may not be made along the way. Where photo truth telling merges with strong aesthetics, we often refer to it as art. Where photo fantasy tells other stories, of the artist’s imagination or aesthetics, I am arguing that we let the viewer know what they are looking at. We addressed that issue long ago in literature, we have fiction and non-fiction. We also have phrases like “based on a true story” where at least the viewer knows great liberties might be taken and the story may only be guided by what was real.

In such a powerful truth-telling medium as photography, a casual desire to wink and nod the viewer into believing the fantasy as real, is destructive. It harms people’s perception of the world. It harms conservation efforts by creating appearance expectations of what the real world looks like, which will most likely disappoint. I’ve seen such disappointment first hand, many times, most notably at the Grand Canyon where postcards were preferred to the real canyon. It seemed a kind of photo-fantasy would likely be more interesting to them.

I might take the reasoning further to say that color photography, being the closest imitation of human vision, has special obligations. The more real the scene looks the more it needs to be real. If it so altered in content, color and light that viewer would have been left cold standing next to you when you made the photograph, your fantasy not yet begun. As always, I deeply believe we should create whatever inspires us, real or fantasized. Wonders await. But I am also saying in this age of challenged truth and assault on our planet, we should consider letting the viewer understand the fiction/non-fiction character of our “photographs.” If photography weren’t so believable, it simply would not be an issue, as it is not an issue with painting.

For me, it gets quickly to the question of why I photograph. I would say I photograph to hold and share the wonder that I see. I realize people have a wide variety of reasons.

These are all things to consider. I have no allusions my views will be widely agreed with, adopted or shared.

Email any comments you may have on this essay. info@sjphoto.com

Up the Coast

Summer fog on the Pacific dominated a recent drive north. It was interesting how it made invisible many of the views I anticipated, but it was so beautiful that I could not be disappointed. More roadtrips!

Nearby Moments

Trees, Fitzgerald Reserve. 1994. 40x50 inch pigment inkjet print in 53x62 inch maple frame. Original price $5900. Make offer.

Framed Prints Available

A collector is downsizing and is trading in a few very large framed prints for smaller versions. This means I suddenly have an inventory of a few very custom prints available for sale. The prints are all framed in beautiful solid maple with a sturdy back brace constructed by San Francisco Art Framing Services.

Alluvial Sweep. Haleakala National Park. 1996. From With a New Eye: The Digital National Parks Project. 27x34 inch pigment inkjet print in 39x47 inch frame. Original price $4200. Make offer.

Drying Staghorn Fern. 2013. From the Life Form Project. 27x34 inch pigment inkjet print in 39x47 inch frame. Original price $4200. Make offer.

Virtual Educational Experiences

Virtual Classes and Lectures have now become a regular part of my workshop program. 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.

A Parade of Influences: A History of Photography through My Eyes August 20, 2022

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, creates 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)

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.

Links to custom reproductions Steve has created because of his love of the work, with the skills to make beautiful copies, and to let more people enjoy these beautiful photographs and maps.

Don't forget to Check out our next workshops

The Studio, Scholarships, Mentoring and Tutorials

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. 

Gift Certificates Available for Prints and Workshops!

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

Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog

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

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

Emailed or shipped with beautiful gift note card.