Welcome to my Paradise Pictures’ Photography Blog.
I Love Photography. It is my Love, it is my Art and for many years it has been my life. My Father gave me my first camera for my 18th birthday and then during my tenure at the University of Oregon (I was on the 5 or 6 or ??? year plan), I took every possible photo class. It was love at first click and when that first image came to life in the developer, I knew it was my life’s calling.
My Dad once told me: ”Find what it is you truly Love. Make a living at it and you’ll always be happy.” I don’t know about “always” but I will say, it was pretty good advice. Despite some long days of frustration, numerous growing pains, and even a few tears, it has brought me a lot of joy and personal satisfaction. Thanks Dad! You are the Best!
I have been a practicing photographer for over 20 years. Never without my camera, there were summers fishing in Alaska, Steinbeck trips hitching through California, camping at Kerouac’s cabin on Desolation Mt., road trips to Hibbing and the North Country, numerous fairs with the legends of Kesey, (do I need to say BA in Eng Lit?) and one foggy free-for-all to see the Pope John-Paul. Later, on my own, I ventured to the Virgin Islands where I still am today. There have been many fun adventures, hundreds of great stories made with my best Buds and, of course, lots of great pictures to help remember them all.
For the last 13 years, I have made a living doing what I love. I was the chief photographer for the VI Daily News for 5 years (the best Job I ever had,) and I have been full-time self-employed since 2002 shooting numerous weddings, models, and family portraits.
And then I met Ashlee. We first met through friends in Frenchtown at the old Betsy’s Bar and since the “2007 VI Texas Society Chili Cook-off ” at Bolongo Bay, we have been nearly inseparable. The greatest day of my life was when she said “Yes!”, only to be beaten by the day she showed up at the church to commit our lives to each other, only to be bested by the day she gave to me our first child. Sharing our daughter’s birth was the most incredible experience ever. All the adventures of my youth make for great stories I’m sure I’ll struggle to tell as time goes by, to me however, nothing compares to the experience of making a family with the woman I love. Thank You Ashlee! You are the Best!
And that’s what this first blog “What’s most important to me?” is all about. It’s about family, my family. It’s also about the love in human relationships and it’s about my art. My most rewarding work has always had people as subjects. As an artist, I strive to capture the outward beauty of those subjects and, more importantly, their inner radiance which comes from their personal experience and emotional connections whether they be brides or babies, grooms or graduates, princes or now?…. my Little Princess.
So enough with the chit chat and let’s get to the photos and see if I’m any good or just a gushing new father. Let me introduce Zoe Lorin Johnson. She is 6 weeks old now (where does the time go?) and she is a true blessing and the light of our lives.
Lastly, let me say “Thanks Dad! I make a living doing something I love and that makes me a fortunate man but happiness? Take a look and I’m sure you’ll see that my happiness is in these pictures. My only regret is you never got a chance to hold her. Sorry Dad!”
Zoe @ 5 weeks!
Zoe & Mom!
Zoe @ 5 Weeks
Sleeping Baby
It is a wonderful thing! –Eric