Golden Gate Park. San Francisco, CA. September 30 – October 2, 2022.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 2022.
Storm, South Shore Mono Lake. 1979
Going back through early Mono Lake work, this is an early C print from 6x7cm Vericolor Negative scan from Ektacolor print. It was an afternoon that helped cement my love and commitment to Mono Lake. It was kinda wild. It also taught me a lot about light filled color and the real world beauty of the pastels I was seeing everywhere.
Mono Lake and the Eastern Sierra Photography Workshop
One discounted space left.
A strange lunar-like lake, eerie tufa towers, spectacular clouds, and fall colors…
Join us for four days exploring photography in the stark and beautiful scenery of this legendary lake, unlike any other landscape in the world. Its alkaline water, desert vistas, volcanoes and unusual tufa towers make it a remarkable place.
The workshop will be taught by the pioneer in digital landscape photography, Stephen Johnson Johnson. Also the organizer of the “At Mono Lake” exhibition from which selections are currently on display at the National Forest Visitor’s Center. Steve has been teaching at Mono Lake for more than 40 years.
Workshop webpage: https://bit.ly/3Sgo5Rw
Direct to Registration: https://bit.ly/3UnczGb
At Mono Lake project webpage: https://stephen-johnson-gtt1.squarespace.com/at-mono-lake
Space Shuttle Columbia (STS75) Launch 1996
An Artemis abort consulation 9/2/22: Space Shuttle Columbia (STS75) launch February 22, 1996. Taken from the Vertical Assembly Building. Kennedy Space Center.
Kodak DCS 460c. Copyright ©1996 Stephen Johnson.
Columbia flew nine more times before it was lost in 2003 during reentry likely due to insulation foam breaking a wing tile during launch.
It was amazing to see. I watched from the top of the huge Vertical Assembly Building, 3 miles away, which was shaking. The rocket shot up so fast, and was quickly gone.
Columbia Space Shuttle (STS-75) External Fuel Tank and Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) on Launch Pad 39B. 1996. Kodak DCS460c on Nikon N90. Copyright ©1996 by Stephen Johnson.
Got up early for the Artemis Moon Launch this morning (8/29/22), putting me into a Space state of mind. Disappointed by the delay, my mind drifted to my experiences at the Kennedy Space Center, watching a Space Shuttle launch and landing, and being on top of Pad 39B the night before take off. As I’ve been working of expanding my galleries of photos, the treasure trove of my shuttle work took me right back to those experiences.
KSC Photos: https://bit.ly/3dZjK6x
My Space Exploration Photos to Purchase: https://bit.ly/3R1BzjZ
Beached Humpback Whale Fran
Ventral Pleats and Baleen. Beached Humpback Whale Fran. Half Moon Bay, CA. 2022. Canon R5. EF100-400mm lens. Copyright ©2022 Stephen Johnson.
I had a very emotional visit to the remains of what turns out to be a famous whale. Fran was a 17 year old, 49 foot, female Humpback Whale known to the scientific community. A sighting in June 2022 observed her with a calf.
Even in her death, there was still beauty evident. But after her autopsy, the scene was grotesque. Apparently she was hit by a body breaking ship strike.
I had to pay my respects, I had to reach out and touch her. I will be looking through my fluke photos to see if I might have met her before.
Of course, the more I learn about Fran, the more tragic her death clearly is. The details in the SFGate article brought tears.
From SFGate: In the database we built, we have 70,000 whales and I recognized her immediately,” Ted Cheeseman, who runs Happywhale, a citizen science project that identifies the world’s whales, told SFGATE. “Ship strikes are tragic. This is the most beautiful animal in the world, being killed literally as road kill. It’s such a waste. Quite honestly, I’m both sad and mad.”
Fran on Happywhale: https://bit.ly/3AXb89w
SFGate: https://bit.ly/3KzO049
website: http://www.stephenjohnson.photography
Barn Swallows
And now for something completely different. From my studio, Barn Swallow chicks with quick parental feeding fly in.
Canon R5. EF100-400mm lens. Copyright ©2022 Stephen Johnson.
With a few variations.
website: http://www.stephenjohnson.photography
Valley Henge
Fuji GFX 100s G45-100mm lens. Copyright ©2022 Stephen Johnson.
Back in the great valley of my homeland for a few days in the heat of summer. Things continue to look quite curious to me, curiosities I’ve noticed since I was a boy.
This is actually a section of California’s new High Speed Rail System under construction.
It was fascinating to walk around the structures, trying to refine the scene down to the bare elements I kept sensing. One issue was the reality of the color making the strange form strangely real or the abstraction of black and white making the scene more abstract. Both versions seem to have their strengths.
website: http://www.stephenjohnson.photography
Whales are Back!
There have been hundreds of birds in the sky of late and reports of whales in close. I’ve been driving down to the beach, checking out my favorite locations. Spouts have been frequently in sight, closer experiences less often. But in the last few days I’ve had some great views.
After seeing some distant blows out on the water, since the whales were not close, we decided to take a nice stroll along the beach south of the Pacifica Pier. It wasn’t long before we noticed breaching whales out toward the horizon. It was clear they were Humpback Whales. They were not close, but jumping out of the water with what we could only think of as playful enthusiasm.
It was soon clear there were two, and they kept jumping. These were not full breaches, last only about 3 seconds, but about half of their massive forms were lifting out of the water. Over and over again. It was a magical experience.
The next morning I was out again at cliffs further north watching the Pelicans and three gray whales came up to the cliffs leisurely swimming along. They were not as active as the Humpbacks but did treat me to some white surfing views.
My standard wildlife kit these days, the Canon R5 and the RF800mm lens came in very handy, although I still had to crop the photos.
Back with the Falcons
I just spent a beautiful morning on my first outing this year to watch our Peregrine Falcons here in Pacifica.
It is such a wonder to watch them, and such a challenge to photograph. They are a little too far away and move so very fast. But with some good fortune and the willingness to delete many out of focus frames, it is amazing what joy a few hours of work and play can produce.
My biggest photographic challenge continues to be just getting the autofocus to lock in on such fast moving subjects.
Catching one of these speedy birds in flight is hard. Catching one in a drive seems mostly sheer luck. Yes, it is luck, but on top of bringing all of my limited wildlife photography skills to bear. It is also a process of relearning some of the nuances of how to track, lock in and stay with the birds.
Rainbow Edged Cloud. Yosemite Meadow
Rainbow Edged Cloud. Yosemite Meadow. 2022. Copyright ©2022 by Stephen Johnson
We stopped to look up at Yosemite Falls, but immediately noticed an amazing huge cloud with a sprectral breakout along its entire length. I photographed quickly, thinking the rainbow could disappear at any moment. Although it evolved, it stayed for over 30 minutes.
I tried many versions of the cloud, the edge, the wider view, the changing rainbow stripe, using both the Canon R5 and Fuji GXF 100s.. Here’s a few of the photographs.
Night Trees
Copyright ©2022 by Stephen Johnson
Last night, out on a foggy evening in Golden Gate Park. Moving easily now after my fractured rib from last month, very pleased with the smooth, sharp, low noise night photographs with the Fuji GFX100s.
Night color is often so strange that I usually explore the black and white possibilities too. I’m torn on this one so am posting both versions here.
It is interesting how the black and white seems smoothly beautiful and the color rides between almost eclectically modern and strangely hand-colored postcard look form the early 20th century.
To further expand the possibilities, I noticed my two frame pano set and stitched them together.
Stephen Johnson Photography Blog 