Though mainly recognized as a filmmaker and educator, John's photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions and museums. His photographs and biography have been published in several books. He received a Who’s Who Lifetime Achievement award, an honor reserved for those “who have achieved career longevity and demonstrated unwavering excellence in their chosen field.”
The book contains 200 of his black and white photographs including technical and aesthetic information on how and why each image was made. An overview of the complex Zone System process is presented, as is a chronology of his life which covers his photographic work, teaching and his films.
Here you can see how he uses photography literally “to draw with light.” As Minor White told John, “Photography as a medium is concerned with beauty.” So from scratched film, negative images, infrared and high contrast photographs to his classic large-format Zone System photography, it’s all here to please the eye and the mind.
The book can be purchased at:
John Deaux Gallery 221 S. Union Avenue, Pueblo. (719) 545-8407, in Pueblo’s Historic Union Avenue District. The gallery also has a large selection of my photographs for sale.
Pueblo Heritage Center 201 West B Street, also located in the Union Avenue Historic District. (719) 295-1517
Beulah Historical Society Museum located at 8505 Hwy. 78, “the fork in the road” at the base of Beulah hill as you enter the beautiful valley of Beulah, Colorado. (719) 485-1976
At these locations while supplies last, with the book receive a free DVD of John’s DAMON RUNYON’S PUEBLO.
Or you can purchase a copy below for $100.00, plus a $7.00 shipping/handling fee.
Some of my Photography
Here's a sampling of my black and white photographs from over sixty years. Most are large format Zone System images, previsualized before exposure. Click on an image to see small portfolios.
Fine archival silver halide prints available in limited editions.
I filmed and edited “A Study of Pueblo’s Visual Arts from the 1050s to the early 1980s” presented by Radeaux, owner of the John Deaux Gallery for 50 years which handles my work. I do a presentation of my book “John Henry Johnson Selected Black & White Photographs 1967-1979” to Andy Sanchez Director of the Sangre de Cristo Art Center, Aug. 13, 2025. Available for viewing on YouTube.
I have also created a series of 4 eBooks on traditional film photography.
The Film Photography Courses are 4 eBooks available through the Apple Bookstore. Based on the photography courses I taught over decades at a number of universities and colleges. These eBooks include simple, straight forward information on the basics of traditional photography, camera controls, darkroom techniques and includes:
1 - Basic Photography - camera controls, exposure, pinhole photography, film/print processing, presentation methods, 50 significant photographers. 21 pages
2 - Basic Lighting - artificial lighting, electronic flash, medium format cameras, photographic emulsions/chemicals, Infrared photography. A light box you can build. 22 pages
3 - The View Camera - its use, archival film/paper processing for maximum longevity, high contrast photography. An archival print washer you can build. 23 pages
Most significant are my step-by-step instructions for running the complex Zone System tests.
4 - How to Test for the Zone System - This 4th photography course is NOT a basic course, but rather is the complete, rarely known, intense methodology known as the Zone System method of photography presented in an easy to understand and follow form. 25 pages
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Other websites on another book and some of the films by John Henry Johnson:
"Buddy Johnson A Colorado Original" The book is about John’s father, pioneer Colorado broadcaster on early radio/TV, and bandleader of the Colorado Rangers for four decades. Also included is information about his popular “Adventurer’s Club" children’s show and the numerous nationally known Western actors and singers who appeared on his many live shows in the 50s and 60s. 178 pages with 378 images. buddyjohnson.net
"Damon Runyon's Pueblo" is a CINE Golden Eagle award-winning film about the famous New York writer's early formative Colorado years and experiences in the frontier West with people such as Bat Masterson and Doc Holiday. Channel 6 Denver called it “an eye-opening and vastly entertaining semi-documentary based on the life and work of the author who became the highest-paid writer of his time,” having written Guys and Dolls and dozens of other stories which became major motion pictures with stars such as Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando and Betty Davis. DVD 30 minutes. damon-runyon.com
"Zebulon Pike and the Blue Mountain" is a CINE Golden Eagle and American Association for State and Local History Certificate of Commendation award-winning film based on the 1806-07 journals of the first American explorer through the American Southwest. 27-year-old Pike led a mounted troop on a tortuous route through some of the West’s roughest country in the dead of winter. Photographed where it happened, in the same severe weather conditions the expedition encountered, with rich narration by Burgess Meredith and a sweeping musical score performed by the Denver Symphony. DVD 60 minutes. zebulonpike.net