26 June 2018 – Life of a Story Journalism Workshop at St. Paul Academy and Summit School – Co-wrote with Noa Ni Aolain Gross – Orca Tribe
Before joining The Rubicon as a Staff Writer, I attended the summer class: Life of a Story Journalism Workshop at St. Paul Academy and Summit School. The course gave me a crash course introduction to student journalism. I was paired with Noa Gross, and together we worked through the planned interview, drafting, and editing process. It gave me a head start to understanding how articles are produced as a staff writer.
In the distant hills of Iceland, there’s an area concealed by bumps and divots, flushed with an entire spectrum of lush and vibrant greens. Intermittently sprinkled in the shallows of the hill, budding plants contrast the dark olive background with a lighter intensity. The hill is vast in comparison to the seemingly insignificant woman settled at the bottom of the frame. Covered in a distinctive green ruffled dress which clings to her shoulders, the woman naturally becomes the focus of the photo. After sparking momentary interest, the woman fades back into her surroundings.
Elsewhere in Iceland, another woman in a black ensemble has draped herself across a rock formation. The positioning of the woman is slightly off, creating an unrealistic scene. Stacks of rocks create pillars behind her. Bundled together, they shoot up from the ground, towering above all else, creating a bridge to the sky. Ground that likens to black ash rests unmoving at the base of the rock structure. Her pale skin and blonde hair contradict the monochromatic color scheme within the photograph. The woman slowly blends into the background, restoring the natural balance in the photo.
These creations are the works of a Minnesotan photographer Emma Orfield Johnston (@emmaorfieldjohnston), who uses the relationship between the environment and people to demonstrate mankind’s impact on the environment.
Orfield Johnston is currently an architecture student in college. She combines her professional background in portrait photography with her ongoing studies in landscape photography to create her pieces. Orfield Johnston worked on her craft with experienced photographer Tyler Rayburn (@tylerrayburnphotography). In her freshman year of high school, she was introduced to him and decided to take his photography workshop.
“I met him at Minnehaha Falls, and I was approaching, and there was this person at the top of the hill like waving to me,” Orfield Johnston said.
“Environmental visuals that include people and my whole kind of concept is just trying to get my subjects to blend into their environments”
Orfield Johnston
She was the only person to sign up for the course, and she spent the day studying conceptual photography with Rayburn. He became not only her mentor but an inspiration to her. Before the workshop, Orfield Johnston wouldn’t go to great lengths to create an image like she does today.
“He showed me how to composite and photoshop and how to make these unrealistic images out of realistic environments. He showed me how to make images that didn’t exist,” Orfield Johnston said.
With the help of Rayburn, Orfield Johnston developed her signature style creating: “environmental visuals that include people and my whole kind of concept is just trying to get my subjects to blend into their environments,” she said.
To achieve the conceptual element associated with her photos, Orfield Johnston uses uncommon techniques such as imagining the subjects of her photography as shapes. Orfield Johnston also combines her dislike of being the center of attention and her love for the environment to create her artwork.
“We inhabit the earth, and we’re the people that are causing the effect on something that was here before us.”
Orfield Johnston
“I’m the person that goes to a social environment and sits on the sidelines and observes. I consider my art extremely integral to my identity,” Orfield Johnston said.
She believes that it’s important to be educated about the current events as well as different points of view, which is reflected in her work. Orfield Johnston believes that society needs to learn to have conversations with people that have different points of view and to adapt to these people while still keeping sight of who we are. Orfield Johnston looks at the environment from a psychological and a physical perspective to explain her message.
“We inhabit the earth, and we’re the people that are causing the effect on something that was here before us. My way of showing that is putting my subjects in an environment and making them part of the environment because we live in a world where we damage it, we don’t adapt,” Orfield Johnston said.
“People would either have lower expectations of me or wouldn’t pay me as much just because of my age. They didn’t think that I had the correct expertise before they even saw my work.”
Orfield Johnston
Orfield Johnston creates her photography to communicate life’s lessons, as well as her message in a visual form so that people of all ages can understand. She believes using visuals is key as words are often impersonal and cannot fully explain the messages that are conveyed. Orfield Johnston worked independently on her craft through her freshman and sophomore years and then decided to transfer to Perfect Center of the Arts as a junior. Orfield Johnston mentioned the difficulties of working with clients at a young age.
“People would either have lower expectations of me or wouldn’t pay me as much just because of my age. They didn’t think that I had the correct expertise before they even saw my work.”
According to her, it is hard to be respected and to be taken professionally as a young artist, but it is gratifying once someone does.
Despite the obstacles, Orfield Johnson continues to hone her craft as is exemplified by a photo taken closer to home in St. Paul, Minnesota.
A man awkwardly lies curled into himself. He rests in an opening of trampled grass encompassed by a wilderness of growing sprouts. While small in comparison to the jungle of grass which towers above him, he manages to upstage his surroundings and become the natural focus of the photo. Eyes closed he remains unmoving despite the stiffness which is unmistakable in contrast to the continuously moving world. The bleak colors of his wardrobe accentuate the contrasting images at play. The differences between the man and the environment create a memorable photo. Nevertheless, after a moment the eye wanders elsewhere, leaving the man alone. He remains unique yet still a piece of the larger picture.
On June 28, Orfield Johnston’s work will be on show at a collaborative exhibit which takes place at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis, Minnesota.