Common problems make for common grief. In this lecture Stephen Johnson addresses many of the problems that come up for people, often with the user not even knowing what is going wrong. These issues are covered with a clarity and in a context so that their purpose and problem causing potential is understood and able to be applied to a photographer's workflow immediately.

Come join me to celebrate the holidays and the Twentieth Anniversary of my studio at the Pacifica Center for the Arts!

In mid-2004 we started building out three classrooms and big hallway on the old Sanchez Elementary School into what I envisioned as a first class gallery, digital classroom and working studio. By the time we had our Grand Opening that December, the transformation was complete and we have been running classes, lectures, exhibitions and creating decades of new work ever sense. Hundreds of students and thousands of visitors later, we are celebrating those 20 years this December.

I’m not sure when Marion and I first met, but we agree it was a long time ago. We had been friends for years when she invited me to apply to teach with her at Foothill College for a full-time photography instructor position. Although after a year into my time there, I came to the conclusion I did not want the job, Marion and I have remained friends for decades. I’ve always admired the directness and sensitivity of her photographs. Marion’s photographs were among the first I thought of when I decided to start my Guest Photographer Series.

Common problems make for common grief. In this lecture Stephen Johnson addresses many of the problems that come up for people, often with the user not even knowing what is going wrong. These issues are covered with a clarity and in a context so that their purpose and problem causing potential is understood and able to be applied to a photographer's workflow immediately.

This lecture explores the birth of the Urban Eden: San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park photographic project, and chronicles its evolution from seduction, to field trips, research, the first book mock-ups and now printing the exhibition.

Feedback on our work has proven critical to many of us involved in the arts. In this emerging age of digital photography, it is hard to find people knowledgeable in the technology and with a background and experience in the fine arts.

Ted Orland’s Old Favorites & New Discoveries exhibition runs from October 1 through November 15, 2024. Opening reception this Sunday October 6, 2024 from 1-4 pm. Ted will have signed copies of his book Art And Fear, the last of his Compendium of Photographic Truths poster and original 14x19 prints for the remarkable price of $100.

A seminar on copying/digitizing your film archives with your digital camera. We will do two film copies for each student.

Many of us were photographing and building our archives long before digital photography came along. Andany of us want to bring those older negatives and slides into the digital age for editing and printing. Film scanners are less and less available, and the high quality scanners were expensive. But you already have a digital camera that can be used to very effectively copy your film..

A lecture concentrating digital “sharpening” techniques from Photoshop to my explorations of Topaz Sharpen AI. This is a practical, down to earth lecture meant to enable students to create a greater illusion of focus in their digital images.

A lecture concentrating digital “sharpening” techniques from Photoshop to my explorations of Topaz Sharpen AI. This is a practical, down to earth lecture meant to enable students to create a greater illusion of focus in their digital images.

Our photographic world has been shaped by what we’ve seen of others work, what we believed was possible, and what we’ve seen with our own eyes. Join Steve for this exploration of his influences and affections in this highly personal take on the history of photography through his eyes and photographic life experience.

Feedback on our work has proven critical to many of us involved in the arts. In this emerging age of digital photography, it is hard to find people knowledgeable in the technology and with a background and experience in the fine arts.

What makes a good photograph? Why do we point the camera in one direction instead of another when the subject matter might be very similar? Why does a photographer take so damn long to make a photograph? These and other such "compositional" questions will be discussed in this lecture on photographic composition.

There will be no rules of composition propagated here, but explorations and suggestions. A good nuts and bolts evening for improving your photographs. A question and answer period will conclude the evening.

PhotoPlus+ virtual lecture.

The fine art darkroom and the craft now possible in the digital realm is the evolution traced in this talk by photographer Stephen Johnson as he walks through his personal, emotional and technical journey pushing this digital revolution into being.

A Virtual Seminar Guiding Photographers Toward Greater Control

The digital age of photography offers unique opportunities to address longtime photographic issues and new opportunities to take photography to an even greater power to record what we see and react to with our hearts.

A combined exhibition of new prints from over 50 years of Space Photography joining the current Life Form Exhibition for a mind-blowing journey from the living world close-up to the depths of space.

An exploration of "With a New Eye" the digital photographic survey of selected American National Parks from 1994 through 2006. The project employs a BetterLight and modified Dicomed digital insert, a Sinar-X 4x5 camera, and the Macintosh PowerBook540c through MacBook Pro for completely portable digital photography of very high quality. The camera is capable of color, black and white, and infrared photographs of extremely high resolution and dynamic range (6000x8000 pixels, 140MB files with more than 11 stops of exposure latitude).

Join Stephen on John Cornicello photography conversations., FREE online on Zoom.

Stephen Johnson is a landscape and natural world photographer who photographs and teaches with great passion, and an educator leading photographic workshop experiences of high craft for four decades.

10 A.M. Pacific / 1 P.M. Eastern / 6 P.M. GMT
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An exploration of the nuts and bolts of Steve’s and robert Dawson’s major photographic project on California’s Great Central Valley. From inspiration to complex execution, this talk is the practical and aesthetic melded into a two-hour treatise of an honest photographic look at going home. From working with grants agencies, to publishers, museums, to collaboration, this is a broad-based look at the art and influencing land preservation issues,

Based on the exhibition: The Great Central Valley.

An exploration of the nuts and bolts of Steve’s major photographic project on California’s endangered Mono Lake.. From inspiration to insurance, this talk is the practical and aesthetic melded into a two-hour treatise of falling in love with a place and actively working to help preserve it. From working with grants agencies, to Congress, museums, to contributing photographers, this is a broad-based look at the art and influencing land preservation issues.

Capturing the Beauty of the Real World

Steve will discuss his exhibition of new prints from over 50 years of Space Photography is joining the current Life Form Exhibition for a mind-blowing journey from the living world close-up to the depths of space. The Space Exhibit evolved out of Steve’s longterm interest in the space program and views offered of the heavens and by spacecraft far away. The concentration on the exotic form of the living world of the Life Form work inspired this expressive look at the wonders of the very large and distant in this print exploration of photographs Steve had been gathering for years.

An exploration of the sensuality and strangeness of flora seen in abstract form and beauty. Re-imagining the meaning of close up photography, Stephen Johnson has spent the last few years working on a series of very detailed, deeply focused photographic studies of the raw sensual beauty of plant life.

This webinar concentrates on Raw processing and Photoshop as straightforward photo processing tools rather than instruments of image alteration. It is a great chance to explore digital photographic interpretation with Steve as he demonstrates his use of editing tools, executed with restraint and finesse. This webinar is designed to break down the steps to really understand the processes, and to work through difficult images.

Photographer Stephen Johnson has spent his career following his passion to hold the beauty of the real natural world. That passion has resulted in ambitious landscape photography projects, a development of an aesthetic deeply reflective of the real world light and beauty he sees, and ongoing commitment to give back to the earth with his photography. Steve will share that evolution, his technical workflow, and his experiences in working for his photographs make a difference in land stewardship. This work has included extensive color darkroom work, consultation and development work with companies developing the very digital photography technology we use today. Steve will also explore how photographic “enhancement” can actually devalue the real beauty of the real land. Join him on this journey through commitment, evolution, and artistic vision. 

Photographer Stephen Johnson has spent his career following his passion to hold the beauty of the real natural world. That passion has resulted in ambitious landscape photography projects, a development of an aesthetic deeply reflective of the real world light and beauty he sees, and ongoing commitment to give back to the earth with his photography. Steve will share that evolution, his technical workflow, and his experiences in working for his photographs make a difference in land stewardship. This work has included extensive color darkroom work, consultation and development work with companies developing the very digital photography technology we use today. Steve will also explore how photographic “enhancement” can actually devalue the real beauty of the real land. Join him on this journey through commitment, evolution, and artistic vision. 

Combining high resolution cameras with our desire for big prints is wonderfully empowered by Canon’s 5DSr and their large-format IPF pigment printers.