Photojournalist Lynn Johnson is known for her intense, sensitive work. Dividing her time between assignments for National Geographic and various foundations, Johnson has traveled from Siberia to Zambia, and photographed celebrities including Tiger Woods, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mister Rogers and the entire Supreme Court. With her Leicas, she has climbed the antenna atop Chicago’s Hancock Tower and dangled from helicopters in Antarctica. Yet her favorite assignments have been emotionally demanding stories about ordinary people; a family struggling with AIDS (Life), the life of Aimee Mullins, Paralympic athlete (Sports Illustrated), traditional people losing their languages (NG), the impact of zoonotic diseases around the world (NG).
Her vision is subtle. She invites the viewer to find the meaning in the frame. Her shooting style is equally low key allowing her subjects to reveal themselves to the camera. The photographs she strives for are compassionate. After 35 years of practicing photography, she sees her personal work falling into two camps— that of observer and advocate.
As a Knight Fellow in the School of Visual Communications at Ohio University, Johnson completed a rigorous program that included her Masters thesis, an photo-document and exhibit about the impact of hate crimes on American society, Hate Kills. Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of her fellowship was the teaching component that allowed her to share both passion and commitment with other students in the Visual Studies Program, helping to develop the talents and ethics of a new generation of photographers.
