Stephen Johnson Photography News

June 2024

Hello to my guests and subscribers. Thanks for visiting my June 2024 newsletter.

This month's View From Here column reflects on printing, recent photographs and experiences.

The Gallery will be open Saturdays in June from 11am to 4pm!

My next workshop is the Masterful Fine Art Digital Photography Printing Class June 1-4 2024 with one place left. Coming up over the next two months are From Your Film to Camera Seminar July 27, 2024, and the Mendocino and the North Coast class August 17-18, 2024.

— 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.

Marin Headlands. 2024.

On the way home from photographing the Aurora, I went by the Marin Headlands. Cresting the hill on the northside of the headlands, I knew there could be a spectacular view above. I know the view below from Hawk Hill looking back at the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco. The scene is frequently buried in fog, but sometimes in the swirl of fog and clouds like I came upon that monring. I was entranced.

I’m offering a 14-inch-wide print of this photograph for $195, matted to approximately 16”x20”. Larger prints can be ordered. This print at this price is offered through June 30, 2024. I'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by July 15, 2024. The image reverts to its normal price after that, $800 for an 11x14, $1500 for a 16x20.

Available June 1, 2024.

THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson

Recent Photographs and Stories

The next morning, on the way back from the late night Aurora at Point Reyes, I stopped for the fog and light along the way, ending up at the Marin Headlands to a wild display of cloud, city and bridge.

Monterey County

Old Fort Ord

A Glimpse of Owls, Swallows, Herons

Printing Fine-Art (from 2006)

Printing is joyous and painful. It is about beauty and witness, fixing an idea into form, taking the fleeting moment and holding an impression of it. It is peculiar and wonderful. Ansel Adams used to call printing a performance of the negative's score. Dodging and burning in the darkroom did often feel like conducting an orchestra.

It is different now. Setting up new equipment feels more like tuning a delicate instrument than setting up a darkroom to print. In many ways darkroom prep was much more forgiving.

The mechanics of making a print has certainly changed, both for color and black and white. Working balance into a silver print certainly took skill, but always had a potential randomness that some found delightful and I found frustrating. The imprecision of it all could be a real downer. The beauty and satisfaction of a truly fine print of your work overcame it all. Of course, that was all we knew.

It is now very different. I am dramatically less tolerant of imperfections, off-balance color, and tonality less than I had in mind. White spots I would regularly remove with spot-tone and brush on a silver print are now forever part of the image. Of course, they come from different places now, instead of dust embedded in emulsion the new spots that stay are real image content. They were there.

Now, shortcomings of camera characterizations, filter-sets and profiles add their complexities and screwy color to the process. But a nuance of color creeping into a transition of shadow to midtone can be isolated and made neutral. That is wondrous.

Papers are central to the evolution of printing photographs. By the time I became involved with photography in the early 1970s, color paper had all become plastic, black and white resin-coated paper was starting to show up everywhere and the love of gelatin-silver prints was rapidly becoming the domain of only fine art photography. Sure we could be fascinated by alternative processes like Cyanotypes and VanDyke Brown prints, even using real rag printmaking paper. Platinum and palladium prints were generally the only photographic prints that still looked like paper. Even they were often printed on the smoothest of papers to maintain detail and minimize problems.

The digital age has birthed a new realm of possibility in print aesthetics. Although people still often chase the look of contrasty plastic paper, options are there that can liberate our vision into a much broader range of possibilities.

Even as we press hard for a coated inkjet paper that resembles gelatin-silver, I want to refine the art papers we are using. I have been working with Hahnemühle in Germany to develop a cotton paper to my specifications, slight texture of "real" paper, 100% cotton, no optical brighteners and sufficient weight to really hold up. I am very grateful that their new Museum Etching is now shipping so everyone can have the access to it as I have had since late 2004.

My next printing workshop is the Masterful Fine Art Digital Photography Printing Class June 1,-4 2024 with one place left.

A Few Words about my Photo Chats

I would like to call attention to my weekly Photo Chats in the hope that more of you may want to join us and share the experience..

I have been doing weekly virtual Photo Chats on Zoom with groups of photo friends for the last four years. The chats seemed a good way of keep friends and students encouraged to keep working, share, and problem solve. The Photo Chats have become much more than that, they are casual virtual get togethers and have created community, with regular sharing, guest presentations, demos and photo feedback.  Let me know if you would like to join us.

A Testimonial

Steve Johnson’s weekly Photo Chats are a priceless asset.

In this day of endless on-line tutorials and tips about photo techniques and social media where acquaintances and strangers can “Like” or make emotional comments, Photo Chat is the unique place where each week one can get thoughtful, constructive and professional comments and suggestions about your own photographs. It is rare to find a place where such constructive criticism can lead to improving your craft of photography, i.e., composition, color balance, getting it right in the camera.

There are often a dozen or more very experienced and/or professional photographers who participate regularly in these Chats. They share their own recent work and offer suggestions to each other in a collegial, supportive environment. The art of photography is much more about seeing photographically then mastering the technicalities of the camera and post-processing. This is a place to get that specific feedback, every week.

I am a relative rookie in this endeavor and recommend these Photo Chats as absolutely the best and most enjoyable way to improve one’s photography.

And, it’s a lot of fun.

-Gaylord Burke. San Francisco Bay Area. 2024.

Saturday Hours for June!

The gallery will be open for regular hours in June. Every Saturday in June the gallery will be open from 11am to 4pm.

Recent Prints in the Gallery

There are new prints available to see in the gallery, from the spring Super Bloom to the Golden Gate Park Project to the evolving Animal Series and new selections in the discounted print bins. The new From the Archives 2024 exhibition has just gone up.

Current Exhibitions

The current exhibitions in the gallery include From the Archives 2024 and Life Form.

Visiting the Gallery

The Gallery is open every Saturday in June 2024, 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.

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. 

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 last 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.