Stephen Johnson Photography News

September 2026

Hello to my subscribers and guest readers. Thanks for visiting this September 2026 newsletter.

This month's View From Here column features excerpts from my 1988 Alaska Journal, with a favorite photograph, a local Dorothea Lange photograph from 1938, a discussion about print fading, and a tribute to my friend and patron Tim Smith.

After a summer break, I am restarting my Photo Chats, our weekly two hour forum for photo discussion, critique and photo problem solving. Let me know if you would like to get an invitation.

My next Fine Art Digital Printing class is September 17-20, 2026 and has one spot left in it. The August 8-11 session went very well. See new testimonial below and linked here. Another session has been added for November 7-10. I am reducing the class size to three and If you want to join me, register soon.

Enrollment is now building in my Death Valley in Winter class January 23-26, 2027. Space is limited

— Steve

These newsletters can cover many subjects, let me know what 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.

Portrait, Humpback Whale. Pacifica. CA. 2026.

A call from a friend alerting me to whales just offshore led to my first good whale photographs this season. This particular photo interested me with its eye and baleen so clearly visible.

With this Featured Print Program, I’m offering an un-matted 14-inch-wide print of this photograph for $195. Larger prints can be ordered. This print at this price is offered through September 30. I'll be taking orders until then and shipping them out by October 15, 2025. The image reverts to its normal price after that, $800 for an 11x14, $1500 for a 16x20 print.

Clouds and Sea. 2026

I felt privileged to see this spectacular play of clouds and sea from Mussel Rock on the north side of Pacifica. I often go there for evening walks and deeply enjoy the space, views, sea and sky.

Social Media post: Photo Anniversary Post August 19, 2026

On this World Photography Day, this 187th. Birthday of Photography, I'm posting one of my favorite photographs, one I made 38 years ago in Alaska.

Denali from Wonder Lake. Denali National Park. Alaska.. August 20, 1988

Denali! Denali! The great one rising out of the plain. The great one who speaks with the morning winds… a giant thrust skyward of eternal ice.

Flying above its glaciers two days ago was truly amazing. Swirls and sheets of ice, and rock, and sky moved below us. At 12,000 feet Denali itself still loomed a mile and a half above.

It was no less amazing watching the sun set and rise from Wonder Lake. After its famed, shroud of clouds broke, the whole majestic reach of the mountain could be seen.

An afterthought inserted: Once the clouds parted and the giant mountain could be seen, it was impossible to take my eyes off of it. I must have stood there for three hours. I was entranced. The light stayed well past midnight. I don’t now know what time I made the photograph, but I recall it was after midnight. Mary eventually went into the tent to sleep, We were told later that a group of Caribou had walked through the campground right behind us, we didn’t notice.

Photographing was hard. Scenic images were easy and purposeless. But the design possibilities were endless. I must have stood for three hours watching the light change and the clouds drift.

I woke about three times during the night, peering out of my tent, hoping to see the northern lights. Apparently I missed what display was happening.

Just before six I peaked out and decided the sunrise merited the effort. Everything was blue and silver. Streaks of orange and yellow, began to strike the east facing snowbanks, but soon disappeared back into the morning silver.

I sat for nearly an hour watching the mountains. The camp was completely silent. I felt like mine were the only human eyes gazing up at the mountain. But there was a sound. I soon realized that I could hear the winds racing through the mountains. It was perfectly still where I sat, gazing south, but a torrent of rushing frigid air was moving clouds in the sky around Denali, eventually covering the great one itself again. It was extremely cold but a beautiful morning.

To Buy a Signed Print: https://bit.ly/4zm3xgW

A Little Local History

Our local Pacifica Historical Society has on display a Dorothea Lange photograph of our little town from 1938. Titled as “Fishing village on the ocean south of San Francisco, California” the photograph shows our Rockaway neighborhood together with the mountain that was being eaten away as a quarry. As I admire Dorothea so much, it was very gratifying to see this view. I often fantasized about filling the mountain back in and rebuilding it, but the idea is riddled with challenges.

https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017771077/

Title: Fishing village on the ocean south of San Francisco, California

1. Creator(s): Lange, Dorothea, photographer

2. Date Created/Published: 1938 Nov.

3. Medium: 1 negative : nitrate ; 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches or smaller.

4. Reproduction Number: LC-USF34-018681-E (b&w film nitrate neg.) LC-DIG-fsa-8b32758 (digital file from original neg.)

5. Rights Advisory: No known restrictions. For information, see U.S. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black & White Photographs(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/071_fsab.html)

6. Call Number: LC-USF34- 018681-E [P&P]

7. Other Number: J 251

8. Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

My Friend Tim Smith

I am sad to report that my friend Tim Smith passed away on August 7. Tim was 86 and in failing health, but still carried a desire to get out and photograph even as he found it harder and harder to move at all. We flew his new drone only two months ago.

Tim loved photography. He succumbed to being a self-declared gear head, but it was the fascination with the technical processes and the seeing up front that drove his interest.

He was a linguist by training, studied vocal structures, did research, taught, and ultimately earned his economic freedom by programming for Oracle.

Tim believed in me, sometimes more than I did. He helped support my art as a collector and patron. I will miss him greatly. Earlier this year we exchanged these messages about my studio closing:

Tim: The studio was an amazing place, and you accomplished an amazing amount of teaching and artistic creation there.
But now you are free. You are free to get out on the road, and make many more of those beautiful images.
Go man, go!

Steve: Your friendship is very special to me, and I thank you so much for helping me to keep the dream for a few more years and making it possible to just concentrate on making the place and evermore dynamic showing of visual manifestations of people’s heart. A lot of strong work got shown and stimulated because of those years.

Tim’s Obituary

Still Much to Give Away: Spectrophotometers and roll paper.

There is still stuff that could not move and needs new homes..

Items include I1 Spectrophotometers that work just fine but will only run on older systems.

I also have an unexpected amount of roll inkjet paper, much a of which was sent to me as demo and that I do not need. I would love to gift some of these to someone who would use them.

The new studio walls carry forward the display of larger prints from from the previous studio/gallery drawn from various projects in my career.

Currently up on the walls are my Trees, Fitzgerald Reserve, Last Light on Half Dome Yosemite, Wildflowers Carrizo Plain, Carrizo Flowers and Storm, the Hale Telescope Palomar Observatory, the Life Form series print Staghorn Fern, prints from the new and forming Organic Landscapes work and Point Reyes Aurora. I seem to always find a place for my 20 inch print of Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother. Four print bins remain browsable through subjects ranging from Rock and Roll, Ireland, Iceland, parks, and local photographs as well as my library of books I’ve created over the last 44 years..

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. 

Print On Demand Book Projects over the last few years

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.

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