Today we’d like to introduce you to Richard Johnson.
Hi Richard, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started doing photography professionally back in 2004. I had never really wanted to be a photographer since my interest and degree were in film and video. But I needed a job in between productions. I applied for a photography job at Ashton studios in the Oviedo Mall. I fell in love with photography the possibilities it created. It allowed me to connect with people and tell their stories.
Equipped with a love for the arts and a passion for cinema, Rich Johnson’s influences are clearly expressed in every click of the shutter. He is a national and international award-winning artist including two Emmys. Rich has distinguished himself as an innovator in design, photography, and video and has spent the last ten years perfecting his artistic skills to become an expert in the fields of print, web, video, and photography. His skill set, mixed with his creative personality, is a perfect fit for any project. Rich has produced multiple viral projects including an anti-bullying awareness campaign called Weapon of Choice that has been used by over 180 non-profits around the world. His powerful photographs and videos from that campaign caught the attention of the UN, which led to him being a speaker at the US Senate in 2014 for a UN Aids event. In 2013 he co-founded a local non-profit that is dedicated to funding revolutionary research to treat pediatric cancers. Since the non-profits conception, Rich has produced multiple photo campaigns that have both helped to raise funds for research and educate people on what the pediatric cancer world really looks like.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
If it was easy everyone would do it! Struggles are a huge part of growth and photography offers some of the most challenging lessons to learn. They are lessons people along the way tried to teach me, but I just had to learn them myself.
When I first started photography, I was shooting mostly portraits and weddings for the longest time, but after ten years of doing the same thing, I was about to quit photography altogether. I was getting burnt out and not inspired at all. It felt like the same rinse and repeat with every click of my camera. I was seeing other photographers shooting things I wanted to shoot and couldn’t figure out where I was falling short. I was about to sell my equipment but decided to create a few ideas I had written down years back that I just never got around to creating. After creating the first one I put it online and it instantly became my most popular photo at the time. From that one idea and photo, I got my first two features in magazines.
It dawned on me that up until this point, I had been neglecting the only thing that separated me from my competition and that was my ideas. For years I was so focused on how I was going to create a picture that I never focused on why I was crating them.
Being a professional photographer is a balance between providing a service (making money) and being artistic. If you focus on one more than the other there is a cost. Focus too much on being artistic and you become a starving artist. Focus too much on making money and you’re an artist starving your creativity. Both are necessary and both feed each other.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At the core, I am a storyteller who uses photography to tell stories. I specialize in portraits, headshots, and commercial photography.
I am most proud of the work I do for nonprofits that help tell the stories of their mission and my personal projects like “The Weapon of Choice” and “Fashion for Life”.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
As they say, “comparison is the thief of joy” and as a creative, it’s easy to compare your work to others and get down on yourself. I am constantly learning and trying to figure out how to be better but like most creatives, I have moments of self-doubt. You would think after 20 years that feeling would go away, but it’s the curse of the creative.
Contact Info:
- Email: rich@spectaclephoto.com
- Website: www.spectaclephoto.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spectaclephoto/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orlandophoto/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/spectaclephoto
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr6A0RFk2hVwZAzAlty2vUw
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/spectacle-photo-longwood
- Other: https://www.behance.net/spectaclephoto
