Jason Miccolo Johnson

Jason Miccolo Johnson is a nationally known award-winning documentary, editorial, and fine art photographer. The native Memphian and Howard University alumnus is perhaps best recognized for his trademark "visual call-and-response" shooting style with poignant images that focus on the subject's eyes and hands. No where else is this more evident than in his new book, Soul Sanctuary: Images of the African American Worship Experience, which Gordon Parks calls a "magnificent collection" of images. Johnson has taken exclusive photos of some of the world's most recognizable persons including Princess Diana, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, Colin Powell, and Oprah Winfrey. In 2003, Johnson received the ArtMaker award from the national HistoryMakers organization and in 2000 was honored with the Photographer of the Year award from The Exposure Group professional photographers association. He has been published in more than 15 books and 50 magazines including, Songs of My People, Standing in the Need of Prayer, Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones, Black Mothers: Songs of Praise and Celebration, and Committed to the Image. Magazine titles include Christian Singles, Glamour, Essence, Ebony, Time, Newsweek, Smithsonian, Jet, and Black Enterprise. His work has appeared in two major Smithsonian Institution exhibitions; "Reflections in Black," and "Speak to My Heart," and is in the permanent collections of the St. Louis Art Museum and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. His images can currently be seen in the national traveling exhibition, "Saturday Night/Sunday Morning," organized by the Leica Gallery. Johnson is highly respected by his peers for his professionalism and insight into the future of the profession. He often lectures on photography at conferences and universities nationally. He was the visionary and organizer of the historic 90th birthday tribute to legendary photographer Gordon Parks in 2002, which brought 90 of the nation's top African American photographers to New York in Mr. Parks' honor for an historic group photo and dinner. He is a former photo editor at USA Today's Sports Weekly, and production assistant at ABC Network News' Good Morning America. For 25 years, Johnson has been the African Methodist Episcopal Church's official general conference photographer and since 1990 the official photographer of the National Association of Black Journalists.