Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography
Source: Pacifica Tribune
Written by Chris Hunter
Stephen Johnson is a name well-known in the world of digital photography. The Pacifica resident and business owner travels the world to offer seminars and lectures on digital photography. His own digital landscape photography is recognized throughout the world for its amazing quality and innovation.
He also is gradually turning his Pacifica workshop and gallery in the Pacifica Center for the Arts into an internationally known digital photography center, complete with courses, presentations and exhibits.
This Saturday, Aug. 19, Johnson is inviting everyone to check out his studio while celebrating with him the publication of his new book, “Stephen Johnson on Digital Photography.”
A comprehensive volume that combines plenty of how-to advice with Johnson’s aesthetic philosophy about photography, the new book is a must for anyone using a digital camera. And that probably includes you, doesn’t it?
“We’re also celebrating the 167th anniversary of photography,” says Johnson, who will have a small “camera obscura” on display. With a history going back at least as far as Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci, the camera obscura, which reflected actual scenes and was used primarily for drawing purposes, inspired the possibility of capturing those scenes for posterity. Niépce is credited with the original invention of photography and the 167 years of advancement in the field are a tribute to mankind’s desire to freeze time in pictures.
Johnson, a pioneer in the field of using digital photography, sees the future of the medium continuing to grow as the field is pushed to compete with actual human vision in clarity and detail. His own work, which encompasses large, highly detailed images of nature, has helped push the envelope. In fact, a long-planned book of images from America’s National Parks is entitled “With a New Eye.”
Johnson points out that a pretty good digital camera can capture 8 to 10 million pixels of information, but the human eye breezes by with 140 million or more pixels. No camera comes anywhere near that kind of sophistication, so there’s plenty of room for growth.
But this week, it’s his book on understanding and using digital photographic technology that Stephen Johnson is eager to discuss. Visitors to his gallery and workshop this Saturday will be treated to videos about the history of photography, displays of his own work, opportunities to learn about the facility and the chance to purchase the new book.
“We’re really in the Stone Age of digital photography,” Johnson says. “We want it to be more like our visual experience. We’re asking photography to be more than our eyes, to hold a moment frozen in time.”
Visit the Stephen Johnson Photography studio and gallery this Saturday, Aug. 19, from 4 to 9 p.m. A free poster will be given to the first 100 people who purchase the new book at $40. There will be music, refeshments, great discounts on photographic prints and plenty of information about photography.
Stephen Johnson Photography is located in the Pacifica Center for the Arts, 1220-C Linda Mar Boulevard, Creekside Suites 5-7, Pacifica, CA. 94044. Call 650-355-7507 to RSVP if you are planning to attend.