Stephen Johnson Photography News

July 2022

Head of Lee Vining Canyon and Dana Plateau. 2022.


Upcoming Workshops:


Welcome to the July 2022 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter.

A little taste of the Yosemite high country has inspired my transition to summer. and more adventure. Photography is always the excuse, my underlying drive is to explore. Knowing I was going up to the edge of Yosemite’s Tioga Pass led me to plan to go on over to Mono Lake and schedule some much needed maintenance on the At Mono Lake exhibition at the Mono Basin US Forest Service Visitor’s Center. Yosemite and Mono Lake gave me renewed energy, which was needed with dark political developments of late. Photography as light…

— Steve

This month's View From Here column explores recent photographs and projects. My Virtual Classes are continuing with Photoshop for Photographers: Starting Up, Getting Comfortable and Being Empowered this Saturday July 9, 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.


Dusk, Mono lake. 1979.

Dusk Mono Lake. 1979.

From late 1979, this was a pivotal photograph for me. After a stormy afternoon, the sun broke out over the Sierra to the west, the storm to the north east lit up, becoming a huge play of light and color in the sky.

I offered this Mono Lake photograph many years ago as a Featured Print, and decided this month to make it available again. I made this image in my early days of visiting Mono Lake and as it was dawning on me that the world I was seeing was full of pastel color and glow. This caused me to transition from slides to color negative film where I had greater dynamic range and ability to customize the interpretation of the photograph. This photograph was a turning point in my photographic evolution..

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 July 31. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by August 15.


NEW PHOTOGRAPH July 2022

Mist and Burn. Highway One. 2022

A misty, sometimes rainy drive south along Highway One took me through the burn of a couple of years back. The mist and burned trees with all of the new growth coming up from below certainly made me stop.


LATEST NEWS:

Road trips are becoming more common for me nowadays, but I’m am still very virus conscious. A new camper van should push me out on the road more. In the meantime, a cell phone hot spot and solar power panels are transforming my workspace.

I’ve been spending more and more time at the studio and less working from my home office. That may now evolve again in the camper van. At the Studio and Galleries, people are visiting more and more, still masked of course. Please set up a time to come by and we can walk through the galleries together.

Gallery Appointments

The gallery is now open to masked/distanced appointments. Please come visit us!. Write to inquire or call 650 355-7507 about a good mutual time for a virus cautious appointment.

Blog Restarted and Growing: Subscribe

As I have mentioned in my last few Newsletters, I have renewed more frequent postings on my Blog derived from my Newsletters and Facebooks posts. I am gradually moving other blog forums no longer supported to this one central place. You can view or subscribe at: https://sjohnsonphoto.wordpress.com 

Stephen Johnson Photography Blog.


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 Photoshop for Photographers: Starting Up, Getting Comfortable and Being Empowered July 9, 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.


Upcoming Events & Workshops


Clouds over Mono Lake. CA. 2022.

THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson

Photography on the Road and near Home

Mono Lake and Yosemite Briefly

On any improvised trip, the scenes along the way are both love and work. I treasure not knowing what I’ll see and do. That discovery of the new, even in familiar places, is part of what drives me on in photography.

I went to Yosemite and Tuolumne Meadows for a friend’s memorial. That journey put me back in Yosemite’s high country for the first time since the pandemic began. I was excited to visit so many of my old haunts, even with a quick trip through.

As I knew I would then be within a short drive up to the top of Tioga Pass the Mono Basin beyond, I planned a trip on over the Mono Lake and the US Forest Service Visitor’s Center.

The high Sierra, and the high desert lake have always felt like a kind of home turf for me. So many of my early explorations and commitments to landscape photography came with coming to know those places.

Moon and Clouds. Moon Lake. 2022.

The time out exploring at Mono Lake was way too brief. Although proximity partially motivated my visit. It had simply been too long.

As I left Yosemite coming down eastward from Tioga Pass, the winds became wild. The building cloud of the day turned to rain. Rainbows flashed in front of me and disappeared. Stopped the car a number of times trying to capture those moments, and missed most of them due to rain, wind and brevity. As I passed into the head of Lee Vining Canyon, the huge rainbow I ran in last month’s newsletter burst out. The wind was so strong I could barely close my car door to drive on.

By the way, gas was $8 a gallon in Lee Vining next to Mono Lake.

Fire Forest. Yosemite. 2022.


US Forest Service Mono Basin Visitor’s Center. 2022.

Working on a Forty Year Old Exhibition: At Mono Lake

I needed to be in Tuolumne Meadows for a friend’s memorial. It was only natural to me that I go on over to Mono Lake after. It was my first visit since the pandemic began.

This trip would provide a great opportunity to inspect and start the restoration process on the At Mono Lake exhibition that Al Weber, Don Worth and I put together for a national tour in 1980. An exhibition catalog was funded in 1983 by the Columbia Foundation and published with Friends of the Earth Foundation.

At Mono Lake Exhibition Catalog. 1983.

In 1984 a bill passed Congress authorizing the Mono Basin National Scenic Area and the Visitor’s. From the blueprints, I was able to select a permanent north facing gallery for the exhibition while sitting in a room adjacent to House Chamber. By 1987, the show had been seen by over 4 million people around the country, including over 700,000 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. It came to the US Forest Service Mono Basin Visitor’s Center in 1990. This 43 year old exhibition has been in need of restoration for some time.

I set up an appointment with the Forest Service to work on the exhibit the day after my friend’s memorial. I was greeted warmly and began the day’s work in an otherwise empty building.

Most of the exhibition is traditional black and white landscape print and have fared very well over the years. However, the color photographs are another matter.

Faded Color Prints, Ektacolor and Cibachrome

Fading color and yellowing whites are unfortunately very evident in many of the prints, Ektachrome and Cibachrome. The Ektacolor prints are in worse shape. I knew my very pastel Dusk Mono Lake print from 1979 had faded badly and I had prepared a new pigment inkjet print to replace it.

A very faded “Dusk Mono Lake “ Kodak Ektacolor (Type C) print from 1979.

Dusk, Mono Lake. 1979. Kodak Vericolor negative with Mamiya RB67.

Replacing my badly faded print began the process, followed by an overall review of all of the prints on display to see what I could do in this single day I had allowed for. There are more faded color prints in pretty bad shape, and a few that have less obviously deteriorated. All of which will need to be dealt with. I removed some debris from a few of the matts.

When the original 80 print show came to the USFS gallery, we knew there was not room for the whole show, so a print rotation process was set up. Over the years, it became hard to manage and the idea of the whole show being rotated into display fell into being a nice idea that simply was not happening.

On this trip, I had access to a few of the shipping crates with their prints from the show, with stereo opticons that had been removed. I was able to replace a few of the additional faded prints by rotating in some prints from the accessible crate, and hang a replacement Introductory panel I brought with me. There is still much to do.

Restoration Work Session

I am assembling a team of volunteers to help with cleaning, copying and rotating prints in the exhibition in the days prior to my fall October 13-16 Mono Lake Workshop. My plan is to spend October 10-12 working on the show. Write me if you would like to volunteer or help fund the project.

Revised Panel 5 of the US Forest Service “At Mono Lake” selections gallery. From left to right, top: Cemetery by Tony Gardner, Mono Basin under Poconip Fog 1980 by Stephen Johnson, Untitled 1979 by Jonathan Pollack, lower row: Mullen Plant 1959 by Don Worth, Trees, Conway Summit 1979 by Richard Garrod. Installation by US Forest Service.

I am very grateful to the US Forest Service for their cooperation in starting this restoration process and look forward to rotating more of the less seen work into the display and working on replacing the faded prints.

A complete illustrated exhibit inventory can be found here.

The US Forest Service Mono Basin Scenic Area Visitor’s Center is open this summer from Thursday through Sunday and is closed from late October through late May.


Reacting to the Overturn of Roe v Wade

Darkness. United States Supreme Court. June 1, 2022.

Facebook post stream.

As an artist, I am no less affected by political controversies than any other citizen. As an artist, if I have strongly held views, and can find or create a visual comment on those issues, I want to stand up. This is my attempt at visual commentary with some thoughts on the overturn of Roe. I posted this to my personal Facebook page and my Artists for Change site on June 24, 2022.

Our flag barely visible, a red lit hand blocking the way, barricades up, the Supreme Court now takes a right away from American women, and from all of us. They say there is no right to privacy written into the Constitution. Can there be freedom without there also being privacy? The word woman is not in the Consitution either. One of these court characters even declares private sexual behavior, contraception and who you can marry now in his sights. This is an attack on freedom.

I am personally opposed to abortion, I think. As a man I will never have to make that decision for real. I don't know what I would do as a woman confronted by very hard circumstance or health issues. I know it is not my right to tell a woman what she can do with her own body. I know I am opposed to this hypocritical power grab by 6 Justices.

My photograph has been interpretively edited. The Red light is real, the building is real, the darkness is what I feel right now.


White Trees and Forest. Pedro Mountain Trail. Pacifica, CA. 2022.

The Old Coast Highway, Bike Trails and Huge Development

California’s Highway One evolved over the last 150 years, wandering over different path, from a stagecoach road, to an ill-conceived Coastal Railroad, to a winding hilly road for automobiles. Some of these pathways simply became the roadbed for later roadways, others became side roads, some are now merely trails. The Pedro Mountain Trail at the south end of Pacifica is an old coastal route paved in 1915 and closed to vehicles since 1937. It is now a very nice trail.

The mountain beside the old road has seen a very elaborate network of mountain bike trails and jumps built over the last few decades.

Now a huge housing development is being proposed by a foreign landowner based in China. 125 homes are proposed, overwhelming the little Higgins Way access road and likely destroy the bike paths. The bike path makers/users do not own the land. It is private property, now purchased by the developer. The old Coast Highway would survive, but would become the path around the housing development. A big fight is underway.

I’ve been walking this trail and mountain for almost 40 years. It was among the first places we took our kids “hiking.” My son used the early bike trails, known as the Boy Scout trails. I can see my studio at the Pacifica Center for the Arts from the trail. It is the north connection to San Pedro Mountain, overlooks of Pacifica, Devil’s Slide and at the top of the ridgeline adjoining our local national park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area there are views of San Francisco Bay.

I decided to take walk back up the trail and down through the bike trails to have a new look around.

https://www.cpup.org/projects/higgins-way

https://www.protectsanpedromountain.org

Pedro Mountain Trail. Pacifica, CA. 2022.

Pedro Mountain Trail. Pacifica, CA. 2022.

Boy Scout Bike Path. 2022.

Pedro Mountain Trail. 2022

Trees. Pedro Mountain Trail. Pacifica, CA. 2022.


Up and Down Highway One

My never ending fascination and love of the Pacific Coast Highway continues.

Sunset. Pacifica Cliffs. 2022.

Fort Ord Dunes. Marina, CA. 2022


Recently at Stephen Johnson Photography

So Many Pelicans in the Sky

A good indication of great numbers of fish in the sea is the number of seabirds in the sky. It is also a good sign there might be whales coming in. Flocks of California Brown Pelicans have been filling the skies in long formations, sometimes it seems like more than 50 birds flying together. They come in waves, flying right overheand along the beach, wave after wave, huge birds, visual proof they are the modern day Pterodactyl. The whales I featured in the June 2022 Newsletter last month were part of that wave of sealife and avian presence.

Pelican Trio. Pacifica, CA. 2022.

Looking Up. California Brown Pelican. 2022.


Collector Framed Prints Available

Trees, Fitzgerald Reserve. 1994.

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

Framed Prints Available

Steve with 50 inch Fitzgerald Reserve print in his Gallery. 2018.

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

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.

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


I am proud to offer for sale a boxed set of original pigment prints from 2020 through May of 2021. A view of my photographic endeavors and fascinations just before and during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Twenty 14 inch prints in boxed set. Signed and sleeved. $4500.


Virtual Educational Experiences

Steve in his Life Form Gallery. April 2021.

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.

Photoshop for Photographers: Starting Up, Getting Comfortable and Being Empowered June 18, 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.

The 50 Years of Space Photography Gallery with the five extra Apollo 11 prints.

In front of the Apollo 14 Panoramic, 3rd. Graders from Ocean Shore School in Pacifica visiting the Space Exhibit. 2019. Photo by Sheila Gamble.

Class Visits

Post-virus, when school is back in classroom, we will again welcome teachers bringing their classes by, kids and college students. The kid’s reactions have been inspiring to me, both for the space exhibition and Life Form.


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.


Life Form Exhibition

Life Form opened in the Main Gallery at Stephen Johnson Photography in July 2018. The show has been extended into 2021. We have had many visitors come by the gallery since the opening. Many have then joined workshops and certainly helped build community. Please come see the show, by appointment (masked), or after the virus. Pass the word.

Seeking Good Venues for Life Form

We are seeking good venues to show the Life Form Series. The series is now available for museum and gallery exhibition.


Don't forget to Check out our next workshops

Next Field Workshop

Next Virtual Seminar


The Studio, Scholarships, Mentoring and Tutorials

As part of our ongoing commitment to photographic education, there is one student scholarship spot in many of our classes. Please pass the word along.

For discounted time studying with Steve, keep in mind our Mentoring Program.

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. We want to remind you of our Virtual Online Consulting Program. This service allows all of you out there around the globe to consult online live with Steve on technical, aesthetic and workflow issues using Skype and your webcam.

Our Essays and Tutorials from the past couple of years can now be found on our Newsletter Archive and some on my neglected Blog.

We hope you can come by the gallery after the virus 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. We invite you to join us on a workshop, rent lab space, or just say hello and let us know what you are up to photographically and what you might like to see us offer. We value your input.

Workshop Testimonials


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, 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. 


Free and For Sale

Free Stuff (a few items still left)

I have been printing out nice copies of the Constitution and Bill of Rights on rich cotton paper. You are welcome to a copy when you can come by the gallery.

Additionally, I rescued a few Beseler Enlargers, a 23c and 4x5, hoping to find good homes for them. Free to anyone who will use them.

Equipment for Sale

Previously owned, but pristine, visually unused.

Canon Lenses

  • Canon EF 28mm f/2.8 IS USM lens $475

  • Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM Lens $425

  • Canon RF 600mm f/11 IS STM Lens $625

Email your interest

 

Gift Certificates Available for Prints and Workshops!

New Space Photography Products

Apollo 11 Collectors Portfolio examples.

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


50 Years of Space Photography Exhibition Catalog

The Exhibtion catalog featuring photograhs from Planetary probes, the Hublle Space Telescope, Lunar explorations, the Apollo program and Space Shuttle/Space Station images. Includes an exploration of the imaging technologies emplyed by the spacecraft.

68 pages, 8.5x11 inches

Other Worldly Exhibition Catalog.


Apollo 11 Photography Book

A 96 page 8.5x11 inch collection of Apollo 11 photographs from launch to recovery including contact sheets for every surface Hasselblad photograph.

It’s the collection I wish I could have bought, so I made it.

-96 pages

-7 sections, Lunar Photo Equipment, Preparation, On the Way, Lunar Orbit, Tranquility Base, Heading Home, Relics

-Film Magazine proofs


Life Form Folio

The Life Form Folio

When we premiered the Life Form Exhibition, I wanted to have a collectible item and record of the show prior to the full book I plan. So, now available is the 36 page 11x17 wire bound book, 5 years of work from 2013 to 2018 exploring these magnificent lives. 

  • Photographs from 2013-2018

  • 36 pages

  • 11x17 wire-bound book

  • $40


Exquisite Earth Exhibition Catalog

page 13

Page 41

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


Pacifica: A Photographic Portrait of Land and Sea

Page 7

Page 27

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


Pacifica Trail Map by Pease Maps special to the Pacifica Land Trust.

11" x 17" folded
$10 (free shipping) proceeds go the Pacifica Land Trust a non-profit 501c3.

Gift Certificates for Prints and Workshops!

Emailed or shipped with beautiful gift note card.


Life Form Note cards

5x7 inches (sold-out, on backorder)

$25

12 image Note card set with envelopes featuring photographs from Steve's new Life Form work.

Printed by Steve in his studio in very limited numbers on a color laser digital press


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