Stephen Johnson Photography News
January 2025
Dunes. Death Valley, CA. 2022.
Join my Death Valley in Winter class January 28-31, 2025.
Welcome to the January 2025 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter
Hello to my subscribers and guests. Thanks for visiting my January 2025 newsletter.
This month's View From Here column features photographs and thoughts from recent photo journeys, includes some thoughts on photographing in Death Valley and a video of Marion Patterson’s Gallery talks on December 7.
My current guest photographer series continues with Marion Patterson and her Intimate Landscapes exhibition. .
The Gallery will be open many Saturdays in January from 11am to 4pm. Call to confirm 650 355-7507.
My next class is the two-day Image Editing class coming up January 11-12, 2025 followed by my Death Valley in Winter class January 28-31, 2025. January 7 is the deadline to register for Death Valley.
— Steve
As these newsletters can cover many subjects, let me know of topics you would like to see addressed.
Upcoming Events & Workshops
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.
FEATURED PRINT January 2025
Hills and Sky, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, CA. 2013..
Hills and Sky. Zabriskie Point. Death Valley. 2013.
So many iconic places have drawn me to them that I wonder if I can bring something new to the scenes. Zabriskie Point in Death Valley is certainly one of those places. Although I’ve made many photographs there over the years, I’m particularly proud of this one, it keeps coming back to my attention. I love it when the sky is integral to making the photograph work.
I’m offering a 14-inch-wide print of this photograph for $195. Larger prints can be ordered. This print at this price is offered through January 31. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by February 15, 2024. The image reverts to its normal price after that, $800 for an 11x14, $1500 for a 16x20 print.
ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPH January 2025
Sunrise, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park. 2010
Sunrise, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley, CA 2010.
The layering of sky and land, the emerging pink and orange ti the blue pre-dan light, made me delighted to have made this photography. I am always looking to simplify the complex earth, these four layers of light, motion, space and hills did that for me.
Sunlit Mountain near Ubehebe Crater. Death Valley. 2008.
THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson
On to 2025
As I look ahead to this new year I’m looking forward to some long trips to the southwest, New Zealand, cross-country to the east coast and some other possibilities. I am determined that the next year will bring a far wider view of the world and step back into more public speaking.
My print goals for the new year are to concentrate on revealing bodies of work by creating a revolving exhibitions. It is my intention that the Golden Gate Park Project will be the first.
2024 Looking Back
My proximity to the sea is my dominant photographic view looking back across 2024. The clouds, the sun, the sea, the waves. This is the scene where almost a daily light fascination takes place or me. For the last few years I’ve been making a point of going to local seaside cliffs almost daily to watch the western sky at sunset. This ritual makes for a daily meditative connection to the rhythms of our Earth and star.
As colorful sunsets, they can certainly be repetitive, but with a long lens, the dynamic differences of every setting sun in sky emerges from the photographs.
Anytime I’m looking back, my memories of the arbitrary time measure of year need refreshing. Time is not annual, memories certainly are not. But I do find it extremely useful to take some sort of measure of what I’ve done. It brings experiences back to mind, and often encourages me to keep up this photographic life.
Of course there is far more work than I will ever fully take in from an entire year of photography. But I find that taking stock of what I’ve done and assessing the past to be very useful. That process will continue into my February Newsletter.
Photographer Marion Patterson’s show continues into January. My Gallery is open Saturdays 11-4 and by appointment..
Cypress Point. Point Lobos. 2024.
Surf. Devil’s Slide. Pacifica, CA. 2024.
Going Back to Death Valley
Startrails over Badwater Road. Death Valley. 2009.
Every time I head to Death Valley is get a sense that it is a journey to the scared. The primitive geology, the expanse, life hugging every opportunity, the wild form, and the unexpected scale all impress.
Science fiction has been filmed here, from the Twilight Zone to Star Wars. Western movies and TV shows have been filmed here. It is an iconic place.
Our 4 days of photographic roaming is designed to sample that space, take the time to look, and experience the extremes of the place. We’ll do night photography, pre-dawn out to the dunes, look down on 100 miles of space form a mile above, take the wild landforms, and deceptive scale of this national park.
Badwater and Salt Flats. from Dante’s View. Death Valley. 2015.
Bighorn Sheep. Titus Canyon. Death Valley. 2020.
Mosaic Canyon. Death Valley. 2012.
Current Guest Photographer Exhibition
Marion Patterson: Intimate Landscapes
Marion Patterson’s Intimate Landscapes exhibition continues on extended display into January.
Kelp, Weston Beach, Point Lobos. 1993. Marion Patterson.
Installation at Stephen Johnson. 2024.
Collecting Marion’s Prints While You Can
Marion has written me that she is no longer printing, so her current inventory is all that will be available from her.
Marion’s prints are approximately 11x14 and 8x10. They are vintage gelatin-silver prints, archivally processed, likely only one copy available, and are $500 each.
This exhibition represents a good sample of what she sill has. Prints from the show are already starting to sell. When they’re gone, they’re gone.
You can download the catalog pdf to see the inventory. As prints are sold red dots will be added to the images to indicate they are no longer available.
Marion’s remaining prints are selling.
from the introduction to her book Grains of Sand
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
- William Blake
My photographs are meditations on the light that illumines and transforms the ordinary, the often overlooled. There are those rare moments when the everyday reality of our world is transcended and one glimpses the eternal and infinite. Through the alchemy of photography, I have tried to reveal those moments, those grains of sand, those reflections of the Eternal One.
January 2002
Afterward to Granis of Sand book recorded December 2024 by Peggy Berryhill, KGUA 88.3 FM, Gualala, CA
Here and There
San Francisco Skyline Panoramic from Potrero Hill. 2024.
Casting Pools. Golden Gate Park. San Francisco, CA. 2024
Golden Gate Park remains a focus of my attention as I turn toward printing an installation of the work. A walk just after Christmas in misty sunlight brought this view of the Casting Pools and the reworked trails around the newly restored Middle Lake..
Eucalyptus Trees near Middle Lake. Golden Gate Park. San Francisco, CA. 2024.
Park Flora. Golden Gate Park. San Francisco, CA. 2024.
At Stephen Johnson Photography
News from the Studio and Galleries
Marion Patterson’s Intimate Landscapes show runs into January 2025. The Al Weber show has been postponed. These showings are part of my Guest Photographers Exhibition Series.
Arches National Park. Marion Patterson. 2001.
Saturday Hours for January
The gallery will be open selected Saturday’s in January from 11am to 4pm.
Current Exhibitions
Life Form and With a New Eye selections are currently on view. Stephen Johnson Photography.
Recent Prints in the Gallery
There are always new prints available to see in the gallery, from the Hale Telescope, to the Golden Gate Park Project, to the evolving Animal Series and new selections in the discounted print bins. Selections from With a New Eye remain up.
Current Exhibitions
The current exhibitions in the gallery include my current Guest Exhibitors Gallery with Marion Patterson’s show opening November 24. Continuing in the gallery are my Life Form and With a New Eye selections.
Visiting the Gallery
The Gallery is most Saturdays, 11am to 4pm. My galleries and studio are generally open by appointment, but I am often there 10am–5pm on weekdays. Write to inquire or call 650 355-7507 to schedule an appointment.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
2023 Print On Demand Book Projects
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.
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 to make. 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
drawn from 10 years of calendars
$50
Gift Certificates for Prints and Workshops!
Emailed or shipped with beautiful gift note card.
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