Meet Hollyn Johnson | Photographer & User Experience Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hollyn Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hollyn, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in southeast Michigan in a fairly small town. I was lucky to have a very loving childhood with my parents, brother and sister. Although neither of my parents are artists, they were and still are supportive of my creative endeavors. I am very grateful for that support throughout my life and believe that it gave me the space and confidence to follow what felt meaningful to me.

Photography and documenting the world around me seemed to be an interest of mine even from a young age. Several Polaroids with scrawling young handwriting across the bottom fill the pages of my childhood photo book. In those Polaroids are a glimpse of me even at the age of five or six looking for ways to capture memories.

Then early on in my adolescence, I bought a 35mm SLR and began my journey to becoming a professional photographer.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
While going to college for photography, I wasn’t really sure how I was going to make a living as photographer. I just felt that I needed to keep doing it. During my senior year of college I took a photojournalism class with Hoyt Carrier. In that class and under his mentorship, I found that documenting people, places and events gave even more meaning to photography for me than I had ever realized. (Shoutout to Hoyt- Thank you!!)

I went on to photograph for several Michigan newspapers and a suburban Chicago newspaper through internships. Towards the end of my year stay in Chicago, I got a job at daily newspaper called the Hawaii Tribune-Herald in Hilo, Hawaii. I worked as their sole staff photographer for eight years. Working as a photojournalist gave me a sense purpose. I felt that it was important to tell the stories of the communities that I worked in through photography. I hoped and worked to represent people in my images as authentically as possible.

Although I loved my job there, I began to feel a pull to come home to Michigan. Strong family ties and relationships have always been important to me and I wanted to be near family again. Unfortunately, the newspaper industry was only getting worst at that time and staying in photojournalism was becoming more and more unrealistic. That’s when I started to explore other career ideas.

I knew that I wanted and needed to find something where I could still be creative but had a better job market and more flexibility. Through several Google searches and talking to other creatives I found user experience design. It seemed like a good fit for me in that it contains both a visual art/design aspect and a people-forward aspect.

But a change of job has never stopped me from being a photographer. Although my current work is less focused on current events or news it is still very portrait-centric. I still love to photograph people and always will. Leaving newspaper work has given me the freedom within my photography to be more creative now. These days you can often find me creating portraits with elaborate set designs in collaboration with my partner, Coulter Stuart. Coulter and I also photograph and film wildlife for his nature series called, The Wild Where You Are for Fox2 Detroit. And in my spare time I pick up freelance work photographing events, weddings and portraits.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Detroit has so much to offer! Here are some of my favorites: – a trip to the Detroit Institute of Art
– a boat ride up the Detroit River with a stop at Belle Isle
– an ice cream treat at Cold Truth Soft Serve
– dinner at Ima
– watching Detroit Roller Derby at the Masonic Temple

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I would like to give a shoutout to my parents, Rod and Sue Johnson. Without their love and support throughout my life I would not be the person I am today or have been able to follow my passions in life.

Website: www.hollynjohnson.com

Instagram: @hollynjohnsonphoto

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/hollynjohnson

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHAkLgauruQbijeW-C9Ad2A

Image Credits
All images belong to me.