Keith Johnson: Photography and the Social Landscape

80º water in January is sweet.

KJ — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:42:40 +0000

Vieques Light for twenty minutes on a lovely sunny January day.

Plano Pool v 2.0

KJ — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:38:22 +0000

Five minutes standing in the rain in Plano. I suppose something about coming in from the rain comes to mind.

Isn’t she lovely?

KJ — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 20:31:20 +0000

Evelyn.

Politics

KJ — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 17:41:58 +0000

Evelyn, Zarry, & Victor 1/18/10 30″x 1100″

Glyphometry

KJ — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:55:23 +0000

The fourth in a series of lost alphabets.

Callahan at the MFA Boston

KJ — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 16:23:01 +0000

We went to see the Callahan show of about 50 pictures at the MFA yesterday. It was a perfect way to close out (visually) 2009. Becky suggested that Callahan had quite an influence on my work: GUILTY. A couple of pictures stood out: a woman on the street in Chicago in a very light green coat and hat probably from the early 50s; a four panel grid of tree limbs looking up form Atlanta in 1993. Marvelous pictures. Yes, Harry was (remains) quite an influence.

Thanksgiving Moving Picture

KJ — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:44:25 +0000

Here is Thanksgiving 2009 in two versions: 22×33 inch Grid and 30 second video below.

Right click on this link Thanksgiving 2009, then open in a new window. Enjoy.

My second posted Moving Picture (video).

Akumel in January

KJ — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:15:25 +0000

25 feet off the roadway.

Overlook Niagara

KJ — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:53:42 +0000

Another grid for my stay in Buffalo, NY.

Robert Frank at the Metropolitan

KJ — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:37:41 +0000

I was a tad reluctant to go to the Met Wednesday; haven’t we seen enough of The Americans already? I had never seen its entirety as an exhibition with some rather large prints laid out as in the book through 5 or 6 rooms. I have to say the sequence had never read as clearly nor as succinctly as it does that way. The Americans is truly a book in my mind, but having known the work for 40 years it remains brilliant, ground-breaking, and formative for me and my photography. There were always some pictures that were less resonant, particularly from the Montana timeframe, but yesterday I was completely satisfied. Furthermore the art of sequencing photographs (which I have be long steeped in-thanks, Nathan-makes the meanings deeper and more satisfying. I learned some stuff, yet again. Happy Thanksgiving.