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. You can view or subscribe at: https://sjohnsonphoto.wordpress.com 

Virtual Classes

During the virus, I have naturally shifted most of my education programs to online experiences. This is frustrating and rewarding. The new virtual experiences are certainly stretching out my geographical reach. I am very pleased by our new Virtual Classes Program.

My 2021-2022 Workshop Schedule continues to evolve to accommodate the virus precautions and very limited ability to gather indoors. 

Some plans are now being made on the assumption that the vaccine is ever more available and will then become a prerequisite for the class.

I remain committed to offering great courses whether in person or virtually. See what a great experience students have had on my Workshops by exploring Workshop Testimonials. 

The way I think about the Earth and moving around it is changing. Heading down the road feels ever less like the freeing experience it once did, despite the freedom feelings that arise when I head out. Other than walking, travel has always had a negative Earth impact, I now need to look at that each time I plan a trip.

It feels like there is consequence everywhere. Increasing examples of Climate Change and the ongoing effects of the pandemic contribute to growing ill at ease feelings. I’m not yet ready to say I can’t go anywhere, for either reason, but it is no longer a simple decision based on the traditional limitations of time from other projects and cost.

There is now such a matrix of concerns that weigh on my heart. I am not happy about this state of mind, but these thoughts are now in my head and I feel the responsibility for my individual actions and impact. For too long, we’ve been able to live in an illusion outside of consequence. I’m not sure I can anymore.

This is not a new topic for me. On our 2009 Antarctica trip, a wide ranging discussion ensued as we were returning about the carbon footprint of our trip. We all pledged to work to give back to the Earth as a kind of repayment for our travel. It didn’t seem enough, and is a debt I still need to repay by highlighting that work.

I have defined much of my professional life by my exploration of the world. I do not want that exploration to stop, despite growing awareness and a sense of responsibility.

It is also true that local discoveries continue to delight.

So how can I ask all of you to join me for a field workshop, with the travel it will entail? I am not ready to say that the great experiences of the workshops, and the stories I hear from people about their lasting effects, is something I can no longer do. These workshops must always consider virus safety, so are different than they were, but the landscape interaction/wonder remains the same and I believe the real world engagement helps our sense of well being in some very profound ways. Perhaps that is particularly true in troubled times.

For a very few minutes, each clear evening at sunset, I’ve witnessed an interesting phenomena. From the cliff heights along the coast, the waves break in such a way as to streak out abstract orange lines of surf behind the wave crests. Again and again, the dance of line repeats itself in what seems unending wild design until the sun gets too low to back-light the waves.

It is really quit strange and beautiful.

Sometimes the fog encourages me to stay in, it is almost always better when it pulls me out into it’s eerie scenes, muted sound and somber light.

As the light drops, color fades, the atmosphere of foggy air becomes more real than objects before me. The character of the scene becomes the photographic subject.

In early September, I got pulled into a dusky fog stroll that became a dark mist with occasional lights.

It was a good little walk, just down from my house, and so transformed from the scene I witnessed just hours earlier coming home from my studio..

Cliff Swallow Nest

On August 4, I heard some voices outside my studio. I was delighted to find three young folks eyeing with wonder this Cliff Swallow nest in an eave of the west wall. I had not noticed the birds before that moment. They had obviously been there some time and were overflowing the nest.

I got out the Canon R5 with the RF600mm lens (my 800mm was at home) and keeping some distance, made a few photographs of the cramped but wondrous scene. I figured it might be my only chance to photograph them because they seemed very ready to fledge. A little research indicated Cliff Swallow (apparently the proper name rather than Mud Swallows) eggs hatch in 13-17 days and fledge after 18-24 days. I was amazed at the miracle of all of that happening in only a little over a month. But still, I had driven past them every time I went to my studio and never noticed.

I was anxious to see if they were still there the next day, and to my delight, they were.

This time I had my Canon RF800mm lens and felt very satisfied that I made some nice images.

On the morning of August 6, it was a different story, they were gone from the nest. But all of this avian family was now hanging out on the sports field chain link fence 25 feet away. I watched for quite awhile and made some more photographs.

I watched them for about an hour, went back to work, and when I looked again, they were all gone. Or so I thought. A walk up to my mailbox reveled they had moved to the rooftop of the West Wing of the Art Center complex, all neatly in a line along the edge, still being visited and fed by the parents.

I haven’t seen them since.

I only caught a glimpse of this wonder at the very end of its presence here. The whole sequence of events was a life-giving and visual delight over a mere three days.

A Few Seals in the Waves

A nice cliff and beach walk honoring my friend Fiona’s birthday led us on a great ocean side walk and to some playful harbor seals around Mussel Rock. It was very addictive to watch them bob around the surf, get knocked by a wave, disappear, and pop right up again.

In mid-August I noticed a concrete retaining wall near my local grocery store here in Pacifica had received a fresh coat of paint. Soon after I saw a crew of young people out blocking-in the design for a new mural. The group calls themselves “Splash of Color.”

As I passed, I couldn’t help but stop and ask about what they were up to. It turns out these young folks have worked quite hard to come up with the idea, create a proposal, design and get permission to make this piece of public art. I was quite impressed. See the video below.

Proposal to City

City Arts Website

Artist’s Statement

Meteor Chasing led me to the nearest location to the bay area I thought might bring some night skies, somewhat free of city lights. I headed for the expanse around the San Luis Reservoir in western Merced County.

I have always been drawn to the lake’s nearby landscape, sculpted by time and the rise and fall of the California Water Project Storage Reservoir built in 1960. I was looking for night time distance from city lights. On my way I took in the unexpected site of a herd of Tule Elk, an expansive lakeside landscape and amazing cloud shadows.

City lights from Central Valley towns were too much for my hoped for dark skies, but the experience once again produced experiences I had not expected. The Pacheco State Park to the west, and San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area to the east proved for a very visually interesting day.

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.

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 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.

Next Virtual Workshop

Next Virtual Seminar

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

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. Make an offer.

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

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

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

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

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.

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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