Posted on August 7, 2023 by Sonoma Valley Sun
Learn how to create more compelling travel photos through a talk by international photographer, author, and documentary producer, Russ Johnson, entitled, Way to Go: Traveling with an Artist’s Eye. The Sonoma-based artist will teach how to go beyond the selfie to observe and capture people and places and see the world in a different way.
Johnson’s talk and reception takes place Wednesday August 9, 2023 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm at Vintage House, Sonoma, 264 1st St. East, and is open to the public. The Vintage House gallery will also host an exhibit of more than 20 of his best local and worldwide photographs available for purchase August 7 – 31, 2023.
Vintage House showcases the work of Arts Guild of Sonoma artists each month and regularly presents a variety of speakers and performers on Wednesday evenings.
Johnson has worked as a photographer, filmmaker, and writer in more than sixty countries for clients including several cruise lines, American Express the UN, the countries of Nepal and Thailand and the State of California.
He will demonstrate how to use a camera as a tool to look closely and dive deeply into the subjects that reveal themselves while traveling. He will be joined by his wife, Pat Meier-Johnson, Sonoma’s Treasure Artist of 2022 whose painting tips are relevant to photography as well.
Over the years the couple has photographed and painted scenes around the world while engaging in an exciting dialogue about art: what is meaningful, what is beautiful, what is funny or troubling, examining subjects, shapes, colors, and light.
Russ will also introduce two photo books: Street Level: Walking the Streets and Backroads of the World and Patterns and Distractions, his collection of patterns, shapes, shadows, and natural and human-made abstracts.
Johnson has donated his talents to produce more than 25 short documentaries for Sonoma non-profits since moving to Sonoma with his wife, Pat Meier-Johnson, in 2011. He has produced documentaries ranging from the California prison system to the future of travel, with Arthur C. Clarke. His audio stories have been featured on NPR stations and on his satirical podcast Gone Astray. He is author of “Tales of the Radio Traveler,” which combines radio lore with a romp around the world.
You can find more of his work on and his Gone Astray podcast on russelljohnson.com and on his pioneering online travel magazine, www.connectedtraveler.com, which has been featured on CNN, CBS, the BBC, Time and USA Today, among others. Lonely Planet has praised it as “Armchair travel at its best.”
Photo: Winding Way-Lakeville Highway, by Russell Johnson
