NEIL L. JOHNSON BIO Born and raised in northwest Louisiana, after college, I stayed in Shreveport, my hometown. My subjects come from here and deep into the whole state of Louisiana, and also, throughout the world in my travels, from Ireland to Bangladesh. A degree in journalism from Washington & Lee University prepared me for a career in newspapers, but while interning at a local paper in 1975, I became fascinated with a brand new custom photography lab in Shreveport and fought to work there after graduation in 1976. In 1981, I left the lab—what I consider my grad-school—and jumped from weekend work into full-time freelance photography. I stuck with it and found that my degree in journalism, my love of writing, and fast evolving skills in photography could be combined quite nicely in magazine journalism, and later, into the world of book publishing. In my magazine career, I found myself moving from stories about thoroughbred horses to urban blight and to many aspects of the arts. I also found a personal artistic freedom in that work and a way to satisfy my innate curiosity about the many facets of the world in general. My camera and writing opened many doors. Between the magazine jobs, I pursued commercial photography and I began teaching photography in the art department at Centenary College as a "moonlight" job that continued for 23 years. My shooting career evolved into primarily commercial photography. My favorite clients were architects, hospitals, corporate clients, and colleges and universities around the country. Shooting regularly for a number of local visual and performing arts organizations kept me busy. On one of my many visits to New York City to show my portfolio, a literary agent took me under her wing and I soon landed contracts for 16 non-fiction (and a few fiction) photo-illustrated books for various ages with top New York and East Coast publishers. One was a photography guide (text and images) for young readers published by National Geographic. My two favorite book projects (so far) are the coffee-table photography books, Shreveport and Bossier City (1995) and Louisiana Journey (1997) both with LSU Press. As my career advanced, in 2000, I fully renovated a 1913 grocery store into a spacious studio and office space (upstairs) as a base for my commercial work. In 2010 I began 16 years of an email blast I called “Photo of the Month.” There were 146 images, to which, later, I added the 82 origin stories behind each successive image. Combining my passion for both photography and story-telling gave me joy for years. I have explored the artistry of photography from day one and continually use my camera as a creative outlet. I’ve exhibited my work in many galleries and conceived and created Portrait 2000, a three-year massive millennium project (b&w portraits of 2,000 citizens) for Shreveport and Bossier City that went on display completely for one day in a large exhibition hall, followed by extended exhibition nine local galleries in early 2000. Before I retired from commercial work, I jumped into serious writing. This was a serious pivot as I decided that full-time writing was to be my second career. I sold my studio in 2020 to write historical novels about photography, and also, on the side, create photo décor prints from my image library for businesses on a regular basis. At this writing, I've completed my second novel that will put me back into the publishing world. ARTIST STATEMENT Photography has been and always will be my life. I have spent almost five decades exploring my world with a camera and word processor, and exploring the never-ending nooks and crannies of the medium. Out of this double exploration, I have found beauty, excitement, discovery, and joy. Due to my irrepressible curiosity, I chose not to settle on a genre, but I have let my creative juices lead me. But whatever specific subject grabs my eyeballs, I enjoy diving into it. I will not let the image or images go until I go through the capture, caressing the image in the editing process, and finally carefully dealing with the many details of how the image will be presented as I set the image free to live an extended life on its own away from its creator. It can be a long process that I’ve found to be worth the time invested in it. Photography has taught me, first, how to see, and then about patience, as the necessary factor in whatever job or project I take on to achieve a high degree of quality. I will always be a photographer. I’ve learned it is who I am and who I will be until the end. I thank God for the path he put me on! Neil L. Johnson 318-272-2481 www.njphoto.com