8 minute read
Imperfect Photography
In October of 2023, Donovan Johnson stepped up on stage to present at the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association (AIPA) High School Journalism Convention. As a senior at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, this was his first major presentation in front of a large group of people. To make it all the more unique, he was presenting to high school students across the state, including those from his alma mater, Shadow Ridge High School.
“It was a super full circle moment,” he said. “I have never sat up in front of people and talked about photography before.”
Donovan was once in those seats just five years before, young and eager for knowledge. He made it his mission to identify with them, and ensure his presentation didn’t feel like a lecture, but more of a conversation with the students.
The title of his presentation was “Imperfect Photography,” a message he preaches based on his own experiences and against those who push perfectionism in the art form.
“My message to them was just to take a camera and start shooting photos and don’t overthink it,” he said. “What I did was walk around downtown Phoenix and just take pictures of things that I thought looked aesthetically pleasing.”
His message to them was to not fall into the trap because perfectionism at the end of the day doesn’t push any boundaries. It doesn’t advance the art form. “Don’t be scared to make mistakes,” he urged. “This is the only way to learn.”
Donovan started his own journey in high school his sophomore year at Shadow Ridge. He took the Career and Technical Education course, Journalism 1-2. “That is when I started to realize I like to write in that way,” he said.
After sophomore year, he was going to explore some other opportunities around the school, but his teacher, Casey Hinde, shared that he had some natural talent and abilities in the field, and asked him to join yearbook class his junior year. Donovan decided to give it a shot, acting as a sports writer, designing sports spreads, and a variety of other design tasks with the yearbook.
“I started to really like it,” he remembers. “I started to like layout and design, interviewing people, and taking photos. I particularly liked taking photos, that was my favorite part of it.”
He had no formal training in photography before high school, but Donovan’s mom used to be a part time photographer. She was always the person with the camera in her hand when he was a child.
“There are videos of me when I was younger infatuated with the camera,” he remembers. “My mom would be holding the camera and I would be grabbing the lens.”
He began to blossom so much during his junior year of high school that Mrs. Hinde asked him at the end of the school year if he would like to be the editor his senior year.
“That was the first time that I really had trust instilled in me with such a big project,” he said. “I took it with open arms.”
Senior year Donovan took the project very seriously and personally, trying hard to make it his own.
“My main thing was the design of the yearbook,” he said. “I wanted it to look aesthetically pleasing, and I wanted the photos to be really good.”
The finishing touches are normally put on the yearbook in March. Donovan remembers that last week well in the Spring of 2020. It was the month the world changed.
“My last memory of high school was being there until 5:00 p.m. and finishing the yearbook, and then going into Spring Break and never coming back.”
Despite the abbreviated high school experience because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Donovan gained skills and an increasing passion for graphic design, writing, and most importantly photography.
It was time for college, and yet again his teacher Mrs. Hinde, guided him in that as well. She went to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication herself, and encouraged Donovan to explore that pathway too.
“She said there was a really good school in your backyard for what you want to do in life,” he said. “That made a lot of sense to me not only from a financial standpoint but from an opportunistic standpoint. It’s the best decision I made because of the number of opportunities and people I have met.”
Donovan spent the early years of his college journey soaking up as much information as he could in a variety of different classes associated with journalism and communications. He relished the hands-on aspect of the Walter Cronkite school, including multimedia journalism classes and photojournalism.
“The classes are very hands-on and project focused,” he said. “There is no better way to learn. I am a very hands on learner. I have to press the buttons.”
Donovan’s resume at ASU is vast and expansive. He’s worked with the Popular Music School to provide video, photo and graphic content. He’s the creative director for The Chic Magazine with ASU Fashion, and provided photography for the State Press, Blaze Radio and the Cronkite School. He’s embraced the visual communication skills learned at Shadow Ridge and ASU to the fullest, but maybe the most important resume bullet is one that came about in passing and almost didn’t happen.
One of the courses he took was called Sustainable Documentary. That’s where he met Janna Goebel, who was actually the Assistant Professor of Sustainability Education, but was taking the class as a student. They became friends, and in passing, she told Donovan about a trip to the Amazon Rainforest that the School of Sustainability takes every year.
“She told me about it at the beginning of the semester, and I didn’t really think anything of it, I brushed it off actually,” he said.
At the end of the semester after finishing a project, Donovan wanted to find something that was out of his comfort zone. “It was just like a sudden spark for me,” he said. He wanted a creative challenge, and remembered what Janna had said. He called her up and found out registration was closed. He was just a few weeks late. But through some persistence, passion, and a little help from Janna, he was able to get registered to travel with the school. All the other students going on the trip were Sustainability majors, but Donovan wanted to go for a different reason. He wanted to use his skills as a photojournalist to document the trip.
In May 2023 he traveled to the Amazon Rainforest, a once in a lifetime opportunity he describes as difficult to put into words. “I will say it was the greatest experience of my life,” he exclaimed. “I was at a place beforehand where I was sort of lost as an artist. Going to this place and being open with no expectations was a very vulnerable experience for myself as a photographer but also as a human. It taught me about a completely different way of life.”
The biggest thing he learned on the trip had nothing to do with journalism. “We as humans aren’t really separate from the world we live in,” Donovan said. “We are one in and the same with everything around us. And so that was a huge shift in mindset for me. As a photographer, as much as you are a documentor, you are also an observer. It taught me to be a better observer. Because you are the one stopping time, you need to appreciate each and every moment, because they are very fleeting.”
After that once-in-a-lifetime experience for Donovan, he decided to take some of the work he produced during the trip and exhibit those photos. He wanted to share his experiences with others in the best way he knew how, through his photographs. He set up an exhibition at the Greater Good Phoenix, with the proceeds going back to the Amazon Rainforest. He donated the money to a nonprofit called Iyarina. Iyarina is a center for learning and research in the Ecuadorian Amazon dedicated to integrating indigenous knowledge and the academic arts and sciences. In addition to educating on native languages, culture, and ancestral knowledge, the nonprofit collaborates in funding research to build sustainable communities.
He’s raised more than $3,000 for Iyarina already. He shared part of his story in the Amazon with the high school students at the AIPA conference as an example of what he’s learned as an artist and a person. He’s forged his own path, and always took steps to better himself and force himself outside his comfort zone.
“My one piece of advice would be, don’t subscribe to what somebody thinks you can do, versus knowing what you can do. Whatever industry you want to go in, don’t let the box of that industry limit you. You have complete control.”
You can see more of Donovan Johnson’s work on his website at www.djohnshotit.com.
