Stephen Johnson Photography News

May 2020

Goblin Valley. Utah. 2020.

Goblin Valley. Utah. 2020.



Prelude: The pandemic continues to fill our minds and hearts. Determination to go through this all with grace and heart touches the artist in many of us. Even after the disorientation of all of this, eventually, we simply turn to our work. My photography has always filled me with ideas and projects. I am picking away at many now. Meanwhile, the Newsletter goes out as I plan more virtual engagement.

Welcome to the May 2020 Edition of the Stephen Johnson Photography Newsletter.

After over a month of the virus stay at home routines, work has moved largely from my studio to home. I can go into my studio when I need to, as it is then only me there, but find the scanner and printer I bought home, with my laptop to be most of the tools I need at the moment. The isolation is challenging, and a more equal blend of home work and photography has emerged. But there is an underlying anxiety of the larger tragic story of sickness and loss going on that is never very far away. I work nonetheless, there are so many ideas churning, but sometimes it is hard.

  — Steve

This month's View From Here column opens by reflecting on our current state of affairs, then explores Steve's March photographic journey to Utah and some reflections on photography while sheltering. We hope you find the column interesting and will consider sending us some comments. As these Newsletters can cover many subjects, let us know of topics you would like to see addressed.

Check out the workshops we’ve added, including our popular Flora and Form workshop in May now postponed until September. Due to the virus, we have had to postpone our March Digital Black and White workshop to August 1-2 and the April 25 Odyssey of Light lecture in Baltimore to October 17. All workshops currently scheduled are subject to necessary corona virus spread prevention date changes.


Striped Cliffs. Bryce Canyon National Park. 2020.

Canon EOS 5DSr. EF24-105mm Lens

9.5x14 Pigment Inkjet Print $195 each

My unexpected visit to Bryce gave me a long sought winter view of the orange canyon with glowing white snow. There were new design possibilities almost everywhere I looked.

We're offering a 9.5x14 inch print of the photograph for $195, matted to 16x20 inch board. This print at this price is offered through May 31. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by June 15.


LATEST NEWS:

Virus income shifting and no gallery visitation seems to suggest we offer a big print sale reducing prices to what I would normally earn, 40% off my normal prices. This sale will only last through the shutdown. Naturally we are shifting all of our education programs to online experiences. This frustrating and rewarding. The new vistural experiences are certainkly stretching my geographical reach. 

2020 Workshop Schedule has naturaly been modified to accomodate the virus shutdown and likely ability to gather later in the year.  I remain committed to offering great courses whether in person or virtually. See what a great experience students have had on Steve’s Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials. 

Our 2020 Workshop Schedule includes one of my favorites, the Digital Black and White Printing, now set for August 1-2. See what a great experience students have had on Steve's Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials.   

Other Worldly is currently showing in our galleries joining the new Space Exhibit with the Life Form Exhibition. On display now at Stephen Johnson Photography.

After lecture print viewing. PhotoOps 2020. Salt Lake City.

After lecture print viewing. PhotoOps 2020. Salt Lake City.

Upcoming Events & Workshops


NEW PHOTOGRAPH

Sunlit Trees and Canyon. Escalante River. 2020.

Canon EOS 5DSr. EF24-105mm f/4L IS II USM lens

In my wander down from Capitol Reef, I couldn’t help but turn toward Escalante. As I rounded a bend in the road, I was startled to see these sunlit trees in this canyon.


Escalante Mesa. 2020. Canon 5DSr..

Escalante Mesa. 2020. Canon 5DSr..

THE VIEW FROM HERE
by Stephen Johnson


At Home, No Virus

As I write, everything seems dominated by the Covid-19 virus. We stay at home, we wash our hands constantly, we disinfect. Like most of you, I’ve carved out a new life, mostly in isolation, but with more fresh homemade food, more attention to household needs, and forced solitude, that is mixed at best.

I know for many this time has been about getting projects done, and I have done that too. But it has been more of a reordering of time and activities.  I’ve been making a point of watching most every sunset from the oceanside cliffs near where I live. Most every sunny day I’m going for a long walk, sometimes miles long, revisiting many places I love near where I live. There is time for contemplation, and that is good. Income in this time is a challenge.

Making photographs or prints is another matter. I am certainly recording evidences I see of the shutdown, signs both warning and hopeful, empty places, empty shelves in stores. But as I’m trying to stay at home, most of my photographic activities have been on those sunset walks.

I did bring a printer home, but have mostly dug into family prints to scan and make digital archives and prints for family members. I’ve made one print of a new photograph, I think, just because I could. Wrapping my head around my art with so many sick and dead is not easy. 

I have been posting photos from my evening walks to Facebook, thinking that is at least sharing the desire and satisfaction of being outdoors. Occasionally even the family snapshots have made it into the posts because they contain a joy that it a bit harder to find at the moment.

In Utah, then Home on the Cliffs

In early March I gave a lecture for the Watsatch Camera Club near Salt Lake City and arranged to wander Utah for the following week. We were already under a corona virus no handshake policy during the lecture. As I hit the road heading south, things were rapidly deteriorating with the corona virus and I felt less easy moving about. It was also true, I was heading for the desert and very few people, I might well have been safer than most any other place I might be, except home. I began to dread the flight back through Salt Lake at the end of the week, even considering just driving the rental car back to California. But the car rental company Enterprise wanted an additional $500 for the change in return. Even when I inquired as to whether they would make a special policy for those of us trying to avoid airports, they said no.

I try to plan to wander with every trip I make. Some business, often a lecture, takes me away from home to road, mostly by aircraft. But the plan is always to explore, to discover, to implant a little deeper in mind the wonderful variety that is this earth. So I do, wander that is. In January it was a lecture in Nashville that brought me to Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Huntsville/NASA. In February I was back in my almost homeland of Yosemite. Now Utah was at hand, and it would be a good wander, I was sure.

An Old Friendship Renewed

My plan first took to me see my old high school friend Lee Udall to reconnect after 50 years. I met Lee around 1971 while we were both still in high school. She left our home town to go to college where she met her future husband Joe Bennion.

Now long married and the mother of three daughters, Lee Udall Bennion greeted me almost as though it had not been five decades. We immediately fell into conversation while I also got to know her husband Joe.

Theirs is an unusual story of making a life together in the arts, at the edge of the economy, and doing things their own way. I had a vague idea of what they had done, being in touch with Lee over the years, and through a mutual friend, but to see first hand was delightful.

Lee and Joe, just out of college, created a simple life in the small town of Spring City, Utah. Joe pursued his pottery and has had his studio/storefront Horseshoe Mountain Pottery for decades. Lee became a painter and now creator of Mom’s Stuff salve and related products. Their daughters are now all grown. They’ve hung in there in the arts.  Joe added river guiding to his occupations, Lee’s Mom’s Stuff became a business that could easily grow way beyond her desires.

Lee invited me stay with them, and revisit on my way back north to the Salt Lake Airport on my way home. We talked late into the evening, and got up early the next morning for a near dawn walk around the edges of tiny Spring City.

Lee and Joe Bennion. Horseshoe Mountain Pottery. Spring City Utah. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

Lee and Joe Bennion. Horseshoe Mountain Pottery. Spring City Utah. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

I was so very pleased to get to know Lee again, meet Joe and one of their daughters Adah, who, not surprisingly, is also involved in the arts. I feel like I‘ve made new friends by looking up and old friend. It was a great visit.

Horseshoe Mountain Pottery. Spring City Utah. 2020. iPhone 7.

Horseshoe Mountain Pottery. Spring City Utah. 2020. iPhone 7.

Joe Bennion at his potter’s wheel. Horseshoe Mountain Pottery. Spring City Utah. 2020. iPhone 7.

Joe Bennion at his potter’s wheel. Horseshoe Mountain Pottery. Spring City Utah. 2020. iPhone 7.

Lee with one of her lovely paintings. Meditation on Agency: Pro-Choice. 2020.

Lee with one of her lovely paintings. Meditation on Agency: Pro-Choice. 2020.

Central Utah

I had no real agenda for the trip beyond doing my lecture and seeing my old friend Lee. The idea was to wander, follow curiosity and see what happened

From Spring City I headed south to the irresistibly named Goblin Valley. With no real plan, I felt free to stop anywhere, any roadside rest stop or viewpoint, any curious sight. I loved that feeling. So often plans get so loaded with things I am supposed to do. I am trying to realign trips with my old instincts and have recently succeeded. 

Ghost Rock. Utah

Ghost Rock. Utah

The Ghost Rock View Area Rest Stop with its very own tower and cloud decoration became a good example of the freedom I felt to simply explore. It felt good.

Salted Earth. Sand Bench. Central Utah. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

Salted Earth. Sand Bench. Central Utah. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

Another View Point provided a great overlook into a basin to the south, patterns of salt and red earth, plus a native American roadside vendor. The riches were already piling up from only a half day on the road.

I was aware that a wonderful sounding place called Goblin Valley was my goal for the day, in order to explore, and to camp, so I was starting to notice the time a bit as the afternoon kept reveling lists after vista.

I arrived at Goblin Valley in time to grab a campsite, then went up to the basin for the last light. The subdued blue light on the strange orange towers was bizarre, and beautiful. The next morning was overcast, which made for even more beautiful light with the sun bleeding through the white/gray sky.

After a few hours, I was ready to continue my wander and headed further south towards Hanksville with a general intention to go back to Capitol Reef.

Goblin Valley. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

Goblin Valley. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

Hills near Caineville Utah. 2020.

Hills near Caineville Utah. 2020.

Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef National Park. Utah. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

Capitol Reef National Park. Utah. 2020. Canon 5DSr.

With the exception of a drive through visit in 1983, all of my visits to Capitol Reef have been while teaching workshops. I am so grateful for my workshop program, it has hopefully given my students much, and I know what a gift it has been for me in experience, friendships and feeling like I am making a difference in the world.

But a workshop I am teaching is not a format for me to carefully photograph. The students must come first, and any photography that I do is consequently less focused and more casual.

This trip was my first solo wander through the park and as I had no agenda beyond, it could become anything I wanted.

Escalante

A return to Escalante proved irresistible and sent me off through landscapes I had spent some time in, but not during this time of year. The light, rain and vistas were well worth the effort. On the way from Torrey and Capitol Reef, the Dixie National Forest even brought snow to the day.

And as is typical of the American West, a few quirky things were encountered along the way.

Sculptures. Boulder Town Park. Utah. 2020..

Sculptures. Boulder Town Park. Utah. 2020..

Driving out of Boulder up to the Escalante Mesa is a remarkable experience. The highway roams through farmland and desert and then winds its way to what seems like the top of the world with deep canyons on both side of the road.

By the time I came down into the town of Escalante I felt like I had been on a journey to the sky.

Trees in Snow. Dixie National Forest. Utah. 2020.

Trees in Snow. Dixie National Forest. Utah. 2020.

Carl’s Critter Garden. Hanksville, Utah. 2020

Carl’s Critter Garden. Hanksville, Utah. 2020

The Grand Staircase of Escalante is a haven for hikers and lovers of the southwest. The town of Escalante is even starting to show the signs being a tiny version of the best of Moab to the east.

The Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument designation has been under assault over the last three years, with the current administration in Washington taking the unprecedented step of trying to undue a previous president’s designation. Mining leases are being offered by the government while the matter is deep in the courts.

Head of the Rocks. Escalante. 2020.

Head of the Rocks. Escalante. 2020.

Bryce

Looking over a map at Escalante, I couldn’t resist a route that would take me back to Bryce Canyon. It would be my first winter visit.

Virus concerns had grown considerably, and I found myself going to great lengths to avoid getting near people. Bryce was as beautiful as I had ever seen it and I was delighted to have the streaks of white snow redefining the canyon.

Bryce Canyon Panorama. 2020. Canon EOS 5DSr.

Bryce Canyon Panorama. 2020. Canon EOS 5DSr.

Antelope Island. Great Salt Lake. 2020.Canon EOS 5DSr.

Antelope Island. Great Salt Lake. 2020.Canon EOS 5DSr.

The Great Salt Lake

Coming home I headed toward the Salt Lake Airport early so I would have the option of exploring the Great Salt Lake itself, at least a little bit. Heading west on I80, there were plenty of places to pull off the interstate and get some views I hadn’t seen in decades. I guess I was squeezing every little once of adventure into the trip. I was also carrying a feeling that I might not be back out in the road for awhile.

I was determined to get through the airport and home without picking up the corona virus, so with mask, lots of hand sanitizer and care, I found my plane and seat, and set up to photograph on my flight. It was only a few minutes into the flight that I noticed a dramatic curved mountain range on the western edge of the Great Salt Lake’s salt flats. Stretching to the north from our flight path, the range seemed an island in white, dark, mysterious and alone. It was likely my last flight for awhile and this scene now seems symbolic of the isolation we must now all endure for awhile, surrounded by so many unknowns.

I felt privileged to be able to continue seeing such wonder.

Newfoundland Mountains. West Great Salt Lake. Canon EOS 5DS R. EF24-105mm f/4L IS II USM

Newfoundland Mountains. West Great Salt Lake.
Canon EOS 5DS R. EF24-105mm f/4L IS II USM

Photography and Community in a Time of Shutdown

As I mentioned in the introduction to this Newsletter, part of my real world engagement in this shutdown is getting out to the cliffs above our beaches here in Pacifica. The wide vista consuls my heart in this troubled time. The view is such a play of space, light and color that the scene is often very different. Sometimes I take my camera, other times just the iPhone is with me. Many sunset photos have resulted, which at first I was reluctant to share. Sunsets have seemed such a photo cliché that however many I may take, I rarely show them. I expressed this reluctance on Facebook and some old friends encouraged me nonetheless. They made the point that we are are looking to encourage hope and there is something so wonderous about a sunset, that clichés be damned, they might serve to comfort. So I let go of some of my hesitations and posted many just for the sake of the hint of beauty and occasional serenity they helped along in me.

Of course, wandering is central to how I like to explore the world anyway. So my photographs up on those cliffs are also about being there, not just what I can see from there. The mix of so many hues of green, the small dunes, lupines blooming, the trails cutting through the ice plant, all grab my photographic eye. It is also a site where paragliders are regularly in the sky. It is now a world where seeing someone fly over and past you can simply be normal. Flying people normal? Our world keeps changing, and much of it seems to be fantastical wonders that technology brings, while stomping on the health of the planet itself.

On tech, many of us have been using Zoom to connect with people all over. I started some casual photo chats among some friends a few weeks ago. It has helped to break the isolation and serve to encourage other virtual contact. It had help rebuild sense of community and created a forum for just sharing what we’ve been up to. So I modified my monthly Critiques into new Virtual Critiques and it has worked well. Together with the Virtual Consulting I have been doing for years, connection and feeling like I can make a difference has expanded.

Green Flash from the Pacifica Cliffs. 2020.

Green Flash from the Pacifica Cliffs. 2020.


Recently at Stephen Johnson Photography

No Gallery Print Sale

40% Off Original Signed Prints. Virus income shifting and no gallery visitation seems to suggest we offer a big print sale. We are reducing prices to what would normally be earned from a gallery sale, 40% off normal prices. This sale is planned to only last through the California shutdown while our gallery and others are closed.

Virtual Experiences

My May talk in Denver will become virtual. Critiques are now virtual. In fact, as you might imagine, all teaching is virtual at the moment. To flush that out, here is a list of the virtual educational opportunities we will be offering.

Virtual Critiques. show or observe

Virtual Mentoring/Consulting

Virtual Tutorials

Existing Online Tutorials

On the Dunes. Ocean Beach. San Francisco. 2020 Photo by Holly Grant.

On the Dunes. Ocean Beach. San Francisco. 2020 Photo by Holly Grant.


Come Visit the Exhibitions (after the shutdown)

Check out my new 50 years of Space Photography Exhibition now joined 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 currently closed for the corona virus shutdown, hopefully we can reopen before too long. 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.

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

We welcome schools to bring their classes by, kids and college students. The kid’s reactions have been inspiring to me, both for the space exhibition and Life Form.

Workshops Coming Up

The next class we hope to hold is the popular Flora and Form workshop in May. Our Black and White Printing has been postponed until late summer. The next Mastering Fine Art Digital Editing and Printing class is scheduled for September. All are open for enrollment now but subject to virus driven changes. We are exploring some virtual classes.

Please consider joining us on one of our upcoming workshops. Enrollment is the key to continuing to offer these classes and keep the studio running. We hope to hear from you.


I’ve always been drawn to historical photographs and maps. I’ve been collecting 19th century books, engravings and now making scans of photos and maps. Printed on just the right paper and sheen, the reproductions are often vey special in their own right. So I’ve decided to make some of these prints available as I print them and discover more.

The first few are from the San Francisco Bay Area, local to my home in Pacifica, We’ll make them both available as 8x10 ($35-$45) and 11x14 ($75-$85) with larger sizes available for quote. The Gallery of current offerings where you can place orders can be found here.


Life Form Exhibition

Life Form opened in the Main Gallery at Stephen Johnson Photography in July 2018. The show has been extended into 2020. 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. 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 Studio Workshop

Next Field Workshop

San Gregorio Valley. Highway One Workshop..

San Gregorio Valley. Highway One Workshop..


The Studio, Scholarships and Mentoring

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 Google Blogger.

We hope you can come by the gallery 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 if you come by the gallery.

Additionally, I rescued a few Beseler Enlargers, a 23c and 4x5, hoping to find good homes for them. Make an offer.

Equipment for Sale

Canon 1.4x Tele-extender for sale. $150

 

New Space Photography Products

Apollo 11 Collectors Portfolio

A suite of photographs from Apollo 11. 12 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

Apollo 11 Collectors Portfolio examples.

Apollo 11 Collectors Portfolio examples.


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.

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

Flora-folio-1.jpg
lifeform-30-31.jpg

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 41

Page 41

page 13

page 13

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 Book

Page 27

Page 27

Page 7

Page 7

A collection of photographs in and around Pacifica California. Include a trail map.

  • 74 pages

  • 11x17 wire-bound book

  • 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

flora-notecards.gif

National Park Note cards

National Park Color Note Card Set

Stephen Johnson
12 cards/envelopes $20 set

From "With a New Eye" Beautiful 300 line screen offset reproductions with envelopes in clear box. A great gift.

 

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