Montana photographer Judy Johnson has been making photographs for a number of years.

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Her approach is instinctual and her subjects diverse.  Her photography is more about the how and why than the what, about the stories to be told.  She is drawn to the unexpected and to the whimsy and humor in life, which often make their way into her work.   

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Ms. Johnson is an inveterate wanderer.  She has lived in several states and visited countries in Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. She has undertaken two solo road trips across America, in 2021 and 2023, logging 15,000 miles.  She favors meandering along on lonely highways and back roads.  She has most recently concentrated her travels on Montana and the American Southwest.  Her recent exploration of abstract photography was inspired by a workshop she took in Phoenix, Arizona.  

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Judy was drawn to photography at a young age, inspired by her mother and the black & white masters of the 20th Century.  Her mother gave her a Kodak Brownie when she was ten.  She thought National Geographic photographers had the most glamorous job in the world.  She was mesmerized by the eyes of Steve McCurry's Afghan refugee girl on the June 1985 cover.  She still has that issue.

 

She has studied photography at every opportunity, through university classes, workshops, mentorships, and self-study.  Her early work was shot on slide film with a Kodak Instamatic camera while living in Iran.  She moved on to work with 35 mm negative film and printed her black & white images in the darkroom.  She currently concentrates on digital photography.  

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Black & white photography remains her enduring love though she makes color images as well, depending on the story she wants to tell.