What I will be doing today...

Hey there, friends. I am heavy in the throes of photo editing. As I mentioned yesterday, the husband and I went to see Mogwai. And it was FANTASTIC! One of the best shows I have ever seen! I ended up getting a photo pass--thanks Brian!! I had such a blast shooting them. The lights were ALL over the place. Quite the challenge. I've got about 600 shots to go through, which I will throw up on Flickr as soon as I'm finished.

Until then, why don't you stop by my Flickr page and check out some of the other bands and people and things and places I've photographed?


Just click...Morgan Jones Johnston's Flickr.

See you guys in a bit. And I hope you're enjoying this BEAUTIFUL day!

A dreary day.

I always say how much I love the Spring, how its my favorite season, and I romanticize about the reblooming of all the beautiful flowers and trees and picnicking in green meadows...and the Spring actually comes and I remember that Alabama Springs are defined by tornadoes, flooding, and the constant yellow dusting of pollen.

Anyway, I just really wish I was somewhere far away. Like Italy or Istanbul or France or...

Here are some photographs from an incredible young photographer, Glynnis Ritchie. We went to the same performing and visual arts school as teenagers, though she was a few years younger than me. I know that she's currently a student at the American University of Paris and has the dreamiest life of traveling around Europe with her camera.

You can check out her Flickr photostream here. All of the images I post are copyrighted to Glynnis Ritchie and come from her Flickr page.

from Provence...


from the Loire Valley...



I always love to see what Glynnis updates from her travels.

Here are some other photographs of hers...

Beloved Curiosity, Herbert Gehr.

Amazingly, I can't find any biographical information on this amazing photographer other than he was born in the US in 1910 and died in 1983. I know he shot a lot for Time-Life.

But aren't they AMAZING?? Gehr really captures what I've always imagined of post-war America--the clinical existence, the probing, the automated lives, the voyeuristic clinical gaze... These are fascinating and disturbing images. They're just unsettling...I LOVE them! What do you think??

Live long and prosper, Mr. Spock.

I had the pleasure of going to hear Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek's own Spock, speak Friday night as part of the UAB lecture series. His discussion focused on his photography but intersected in so many ways with his role as Spock, as an actor in general, as an Orthodox Jew, as a lover of women... There were a couple hundred people there, but it felt so very intimate--like he was speaking to you alone from across a dinner table.

He's 77 (and will be 78 next month) now and still going strong. He said a few years back he called an insurance adjuster to find out how long he was expected to live. They gave him an estimated time in days. He promptly bought a clock that counted down time, and that clock ticks down the number of days he has left. He said he doesn't look at it often. It's just a reminder to live a little more in the days he has.

Here are a couple of photos from the lecture... (I also got to meet him afterward and have a book signed!)

Home Invasion: Todd Selby's photographs

Do you ever walk into someone's home for the first time and just want to stray away from your host to catch a glimpse of all their stuff??

Todd Selby is a fantastic photographer who has hopped around major cities, photographing people's spaces for his project, The Selby. I'm always curious what other people's home/work spaces look like. Selby's photographs fulfill the semi-creepy voyeur that resides in all of us.

Here are some of my favorite spaces...

Guy Blakeslee and Maximilla Lukacs...


Diva and Lola Dompe...



Aaron Rose...


Brett Simon...

A day to go down in history...

I can't begin to express my excitement as a new era begins in our nation. I am filled with an overwhelming sense of hope and joy as Barack Obama becomes our President!!! I will be glued to the television today at my second home the Bottletree cafe, celebrating with dear friends.

Speaking of dear friends, my dear friend Tracy Martin posted a comment on Facebook that really moved me as we approach this tremendous occasion--she said she wishes her father could witness this event. Tracy's dad was the amazing Spider Martin, photographer and civil rights activist. He passed away a few years back, but the images he captured live on in so many ways. The photographs he took during the Civil Rights Movement are so powerful, and I think they speak loudly as we make this huge stride forward in American history.

Please visit the Spider Martin web site, here. All photos are courtesy of the Spider Martin web site. I hope these images inspire you and fill you with a hope that endures!

Beloved Curiosity, Emil Otto Hoppe

I came across an image of E.O. Hoppe's work in a magazine spread a few years ago. I cut out the 1937 photo of a Dandy standing outside the London Stock Exchange and have saved it ever since. Somehow I've gone two years without really thinking about the guy too much. As I draw close to the end of the sketchbook that contains that photo, I really need to get to know Hoppe.

Amazingly, I can't find much information other than he was born in Munich in 1878, is considered British, and he died in 1972. I did, however, find a ton of his photographs in my search. I'm actually liking the fact I can't figure this guy's life out. I don't want to anymore. I just want to look at his photos and wonder...