Keith Johnson Photographs

I am doing a landscape workshop in Woodstock, NY; Finding the Social Landscape in and around Woodstock, September 20-21, CPW is a perfect base and Woodstock is that perfect setting.

The Woodstock area is full of both natural and man-made wonders. From the Hudson River to the Catskill Mountains, from wildlife to industry and from the local residents to the visiting tourists; this workshop will investigate how the natural landscape and the social landscape collide to offer up grand photographic possibilities.

Walking in the footprints of some of history’s greatest artists, we will investigate our surrounding area and all the wonders that encompass it.. This workshop will encourage you to find a personal way of seeing and interpreting a multi-layered environment. We will seek out the social landscape that surrounds us and begin to create stories and observations about it. Students will share their individual opinions about what photographing the landscape means within their work. There will be lectures, critiques and shooting trips in the surrounding area and beyond in search of the photographic holy grail. This is a workshop for fine art photographers, professional photographers and experienced amateurs who want to explore the photographic possibilities that are justoutside the door.

Myra Greene makes good art. She is currently campaigning a fine large group of colodian plates from the series Character Recognition. She has cast her net wide and is reaping the benefits of her hard work. See it if you can.

For the past two months I had the opportunity to work with a Leaf Aptus 75S on my Hasselblad SWC/M, thus giving me (maybe) the best of both worlds. Working with a camera I am completely familiar with an extremely high quality digital back. While it did make the camera bigger, I chose to work with the hard drive as I wanted to work on a tripod and the encumbrance would be null, plus I was able to work all day without having to think about reloading. The file size and quality is pretty stunning but not having to scan and clean files is such blessing.

I expected to miss working with the square but the aspect ratio (48×36) was close to my Plaubel Makina W67, with that size sensor I was able to use most of what the Biogon 38 would provide. (Normal Hasselblad neg size is 55 wide). I thought I would work slower and more deliberately (as in view camera slower) but this was not the case. It produces a 190MB Tiff at 16 bits so going to 30×40 or larger is no problem.

I worked directly from the hard drive to the Mac and imported into Lightroom where I could work nondestructively with the MOS (Leaf RAW file). Here is the rub: it costs the same as a Saab, but I can use my SWC. I have shot several hundred files and will work on them over the summer.  Stay tuned.

Jerry Leibling has a grand show at Yale Art Gallery that went up last week, most of a collection Yale recently purchased, with pictures from 1947-2000, b&w and color. Leibling is a master of surface, body, spirit and life. I sure like his work, especially his most recent color stuff.

Butterfly Boy, Jerome Leibling, 1949

Photographs from the Doris Bry collection are also up at Yale. A fine historical collection of pictures from Atget to Winogrand and much in between. Amazingly, there were no pictures larger than 20×24, which meant there were lots of pictures to look at very closely. A Robert Frank picture of the highway not even 2×3 in., many in the 8×10 range, quite a change to what we are typically seeing today.

Albert Renger-Patzsch 1942

It is hard to believe sometimes how fast things in the photo industry are changing. This week my C-41 lab (the last professional lab in the New Haven area) announced they are waving the white flag and calling it quits. Almost the same day my good friend Eric Luden, formerly of Ilford and later Harmon Industries, announced he is opening a professional black and white lab In Belmont, MA called Digital Silver Imaging where he will print to fiber based Ilford paper b&w digital files of the highest quality, catering to the fine artist and high end photographer, with a Durst Theta laser printer. Go figure. Best of luck to him.

I have seen the results and they are stunning.

www.digitalsilverimaging.com.

First Luke Strosnider then Kirby Pilcher, both students and friends at VSW were selected for Jen Bekman‘s 20×200 program and both have sold out their editions. Yay. Proud.

Luke Strosnider

Kirby Pilcher

Raw Pipeline by Ted Dillard, a new book from Lark Books, is a straight forward work flow investigation and explanation into what to do and why do it to maximize the digital work flow.  Look for it at Amazon.

A recent extended effort, please note; this is the first black & white picture I have made in maybe 25 years.   More in the Extended Landscape gallery.

Digital Color Landscape

This class will emphasize seeing in color through assignments, critiques, lectures, and presentations. Using digital cameras and a Fuji instant printer, we will photograph and print daily without using computers or Photoshop. Experience is not necessary; enthusiasm is critical.

August 24-30

Penland is one of great workshop experiences. World class crafts in an idyllic setting north of Asheville, NC in the mountains. Glorious.

www.penland.org

My intention with this blog was to use it as a dynamic, current, and temporary space to post and try out new work and ideas; work that is not resolved yet but is intriguing to me; work that may not fit yet but warrants a look see. Along those lines, I have been carrying a Leica D-Lux 2 pocket size camera for a few years and I’ve shot about 3000 files. I am struck by some of the pictures I have made although I wouldn’t have shot these things with my big (read serious) cameras. There is a freeness and immediacy that this allowed me. I am continuing with this idea using a D-Lux 3 (bigger file size and snappy professional black finish).   To find out where it is going stay tuned as I will post pix periodically but regularly.

Chicago photographer Brad Temkin‘s work is beautiful, monumental work from Iceland. Really quite lovely.

Renaldi has a terrific site with some excellent work.

Exploring the unfamiliar and unexpected in the landscape.

August 3-9 I will be giving a workshop at MPW in Rockport, ME. I have been doing workshops there for 7 years now and invite all comers for a look at “Photographing the Contemporary Landscape.” We’ll have a look at what Maine has to offer, make use ot the Fuji sponsored printer, and make lots of photographs.

The landscape is an enduring subject for artists of all media who want to express the spiritual connection between human beings and their environment.

For nearly two centuries photography has provided the world with compelling and profound landscape imagery. This workshop focuses on myriad aspects of contemporary landscape photography including the beautiful, the classical, the romantic, the man-made, the cultural, and the unfamiliar. It is a class for fine art photographers, professional photographers and experienced amateurs working in color, who want to develop a personal approach to landscape photography.

Lectures, class discussions and critiques encourage and challenge students to move beyond the predictable image and clichéd notions of beauty. During field trips, students explore Midcoast Maine and the surrounding inland towns. Keith also covers career and professional issues such as portfolios, promotion and presentation.

www.theworkshops.com

Martin Parr

Lars Tunbjork

There are lots of web gurus/designers/masters out there but I know I work with one of the best. Steve Brettler of smallfish-design is great to work with; he listens, has fine ideas and is a terrific collaborator. Have a look at his work at www.smallfish-design.com.

One of the great places to take and give a workshop is Jackson, WY. The place is terrific, the people (Jon Stuart and Thomas Stimpson) are terrific, and the ghosts of William Henry Jackson and Ansel Adams are felt everywhere. Making new pictures is the hard part, but with excellent weather, great skies, it is worth the effort.

The workshop is “Photographiing the Contemporary Landscape” and runs July 21-25.

Jackson Hole is a place of immense photographic opportunity. From the Tetons to the county fair, from moose and bear to wildlife of another sort, we will investigate how the natural landscape and the social landscape collide to offer up grand photographic possibilities. Students will discover their vision of the American West. There will be daily lectures, critiques and shooting trips in the area and beyond in search of the photographic holy grail. Bring your cameras and plenty of enthusiasm for a week of looking, seeing and picture making. The emphasis is on having a great time in a great place.

Jackson Hole Art Association.