A photographer by accident, Rodney Leandrew Johnson is relatively new to photography. In high school, he had planned to be a cultural anthropologist, studying Mandarin and Sanskrit on his own, but his parents insisted he “go into computers.” While working as a software engineer, his love of studying distant cultures and world religions never wavered. He traveled to Asia as often as he could to explore the cultures first hand.
At age 35, Rodney’s interest in photography developed as an extension of his love of travel in Asia. He decided to purchase a film SLR camera and a cheap lens. The camera’s manual controls allowed Rodney to learn the nature of light, while capturing what he describes as “slices of life” in the places he explored. Even though he had only owned his first camera for three days, one of his photos was selected for use by Singapore’s tourism board. This inspired Rodney’s interest in photography, but the high cost of professional slide film, its processing costs and need of proper storage, held him to shooting only occasionally. Moving to a digital camera enabled Rodney’s natural creative talents to blossom exponentially, allowing him to experiment without being pinioned by financial barriers.
The true pivotal moment in Rodney’s short, photographic life occurred when Barnes and Noble bookstore held the wrong magazine for him, by accident. Rodney explained: “I told Barnes and Noble I wanted them to hold a copy of B&W magazine. Instead, they held a ‘BW photography’ magazine called LensWork, which I had never heard of. I was about to fly, and needed something to read, so I went ahead and bought it.” In that issue of LensWork, he discovered the work of James Whitlow Delano, who has become Rodney’s favorite photographer. From the article he also discovered the names “Henri Cartier-Bresson” and “Sudek.” The photographs of these three masters inspired Rodney, showing him a view of the world that fit his creative imagination. He bought the audio interview for Delano from LensWork, listening to it over and over in his car and iPod. Delano’s background story inspired Rodney to take a “leap of faith” and venture into the world to capture the slices of life of the places he passionately craves to explore.
“I allow myself to be absorbed into the cultures I explore. I wander the alleys and backstreets of cities and villages where only those who live there normally venture. I quietly become one with a scene, working quickly to capture “slices of life” before they are forever lost.”
“My photographic interests do not really fall into specific genre. I find I am drawn to humanist, cultural and special interests topics, but my goal is always to do street photography. I feel my work goes beyond photography. My exploration of a people, culture or country is as much an academic exercise, as it is a photographic one. I research a country, its peoples and histories in great detail. My work is driven by true passion.”
Latest News: I’ve moved to Jakarta, Indonesia! This is the only way I can truly pursue the photography I wish to do. Jakarta is a natural choice for my new home, as I plan to focus on Indonesia, while making excursions to other countries of interest. I am seeking representation and sponsorship.
