Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography Signed Copies Now Shipping!
Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography Special Edition Limited Edition Slip-cased edition with original print Now Shipping! Some still available from early edition numbers at the best price.

• printing
• profiling
• image editing

I often use this photograph to illustrate a talk I give on photographic clichés determining our expectations of what the real world looks like. It was on a hazy day, much like this, that I witnessed a couple getting off a tour bus at the Grand Canyon, shaking their heads, turning away, while saying "it just doesn't look like the postcards."

We're offering an 11x14 inch print, matted to 16x20 and ready to frame for $195, framed for an additional $75. This print at this price is offered through May 31. We'll be taking orders until then, and shipping them out by June 15th.

About the Program
Each month we offer a signed, original print, at a special price. This is a great opportunity to own a very affordable fine-art photograph. Orders are taken for a 30-day period, then printed and shipped within two weeks after the close. When it's over, it's over, these prints won't be available again at this price.

Photographs, Memories, Connections

I've been going through some old family photographs recently while testing a handsome new scanner Epson sent in (the Perfection V750 Pro). Some were of my own youth, old girlfriends, and of course, going further back in time to relatives whose names and images are in hand, with little else known other than relation.

The power of photographs to hold these past moments, at least in a small way, has been often discussed. Their power, their truth. Yes, I should have shaved that lengthening peach fuzz in the early portrait with my first girlfriend. I could yet fix it in Photoshop, but the actual story would remain, just ego-altered in retrospect.

Many icons and memories have come to mind, stories of loss and love, precious connections, suggestions of hope and spirit: the photographs of lower Manhattan island in 1998, the Space Shuttle Columbia on the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, glimpses of George Harrison from long ago, and the very common "the kids when they were young."

Photographs help us make connections. Their power extends so deep that they even fuse with our memories and become part of our mental image of the experience. The image gets inserted into our mental version of experience.

I've often been challenged regarding my assertions that photographs contain limited, but critical truths, and that in this age of digital manipulation, these attributes of photographs should be cherished. At a recent celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Canon EOS system, two Canon employees from Japan sat next to me. As we talked, this issue of photographic veracity came up, and they told me that in Japanese, photography literally means "capturing reality." Their sketch on the back of a business card became the genesis for the image below.



Perhaps we've become cynical, certainly justifiably suspicious about people with notions of truth in hand. But we do live with truisms that actually have value and meaning. Kindness is important, friendship matters. Photography's emergence into our collective consciousness was, and remains, a notion of recorded reality. It connects us to a time and place, the image often becoming more important over time. As art, photography connects us to another heart as well.

We rarely know the value a photograph might come to hold as document. It's value is more often clear if it seems to have risen to the level of art. The evidence of a concrete reality, a glimpse into a time or culture, these are all part of what we hold dear in photography. When we add to that mix an emotional response and a sense of intrinsic beauty, then we tap into three cornerstones of photography.

I suppose these are all thoughts in support of a kind of straight-forward photography. There are certainly other kinds of photography, some of great beauty. However, straight photography can embrace a unique set of concerns and values. I find great value in such an embrace.

Book Reviews
Book Comments online

Mono Lake, Bodie and the Yosemite High Sierra
A Roving Digital Photography Field Workshop
June 16-21, 2007

The high desert sea of Mono Lake, the ghost town of Bodie, the 10,000 foot high Sierra, all in a single workshop exploring one of the most scenically spectacular regions in the world.

These six days will be a dynamic combination of a traditional landscape photography workshop while diving deep into the digital age. Technical and aesthetic considerations will be discussed in detail, while we explore this high desert lake and its strange environs.

From RAW to Print in One Week
Summer Digital Boot Camp

An intense immersion into digital photography with one of its pioneers. In five days you will go from perhaps not even understanding what a RAW file is, to making well-crafted and thoughtful prints. Some fieldwork and extensive lecture and lab work will fill our time together. Every student will have full access to their own workstation in our lab. Topics include practical experience with digital exposure, RAW processing, image editing, color management and printing.

ONE DAY SEMINARS

-Digital Black and White: May 12, 2007
-Beauty in Photography: Inspiration & Composition: June 2, 2007

May 23, 7-9pm

Stephen Johnson Studios & Gallery. Pacifica, California

March PCPhoto Magazine: Panoramic Article
ASMP NorCal Newsletter: Reprint from book

Tuesday-Friday 10am to 5pm.
$25 per hour, plus a per print charge

Includes full access to calibrated monitors, fast G5 Macs, Epson pigment inkjet printers, 5000°k viewing lights and color profile creation hardware and software.

Appointments can be made by calling 650 355-7507.
Familiarity with Mac OSX and Photoshop CS2 or Adobe Lightroom recommended. Staff tutorials available for additional charge.

Digital Portraits by
The Studios of Stephen Johnson Photography

• Instant Feedback
• Special prices
• Satisfaction or no fees

Services:

• Artwork Copying
• Custom Printing
• Custom Profiles

---

Pacifica Center for the Arts from Linda Mar Boulevard

We're open by appointment. To find us, use our map online at:

Map to studio
Studio directions and site layout.

Newsletter Archive