TITLE: Painting with Light

The great Miroslav Tichý once stated, "Photography is painting with light.” Light can fall at various intensities and highlight areas differently daily, creating countless ways to paint with light.

AUTHOR: Michelle Ranee Johnson (United States)

Michelle Ranee Johnson is an award-winning fine-art landscape and climbing photographer. She grew up mesmerized by the photographs in National Geographic and Ansel Adams, and these photos transported her by her imagination to each location. Her goal is to have people imagine they could walk right into her photographs and feel themselves present at that location. She hopes her work can provide hope amidst the chaos and destruction we see daily in the news. Michelle has a BA in Anthropology with a minor in Art History and an MS in Geology. She feels her background helps her photographic eye.

Michelle's photography has been on exhibit at various locations, including Van Der Plas Gallery in NYC, a solo online year-long exhibition called "Cloudscapes" at Red Bluff Art Gallery, and Brooklyn Gallery. To her amazement and honor, her photograph "The Parched Earth" was chosen by National Geographic Yourshot to be put on exhibit at Photofest 2019 in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, for their assignment "A Planet in Balance." She won Honorable Mention in the Extreme Sports Professional Division at the 2023 IPA Awards for her series “Women Wanderers.” She also won the Peoples Vote Award in the Professional Landscape Division in the 2023 reFocus Black and White Photo Awards and Honorable Mention in the Mono Awards Professional Landscape Division for her photo “Pristine.” This year, 2024, she won the Peoples Vote Awards in the reFocus Color Awards in their Professional Travel Category for her “Cloudscapes” series. She is also on the Board of Directors for the IAPP (International Association of Panoramic Photographers).