Meet Greg Johnston

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Greg Johnston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Greg, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
As a young school boy I was a daydreamer. My mind was always adrift somewhere and always getting reprimanded from the teacher. I always thought I was born a few hundred years too late. I felt I should be off exploring and discovering different lands. I was always in my father’s workshop creating something and always having a short attention span and moving on to the next thing. One day as a teenager I found a rangefinder camera that was given to parents on their wedding. That changed my life. I found creativity, focus (no pun) and a way of expressing myself. My first love the ocean and I became a known underwater photographer. That purpose led to my goal of exploring islands and landscapes throughout the world

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
As a Florida based travel photographer, I have spent my entire career covering the Caribbean islands. Including the Caribbean rim of Central America and South America. I consider myself a tropical photographer specializing in ocean sports and ocean landscapes. I have photographed 57 destinations worldwide with a goal of completing 100. My work has been editorial and advertising for resort hotels and tourism destinations. Ever wanting to expand my portfolio, I traveled to Bali, Indonesia with the intension of building my stock photo portfolio and mostly to change gears and develop a fine art following.

Bali is one of the few tropical island destinations that caters to digital nomads. As one who has been island hopping for most of my life, I was coined an Original Ocean Nomad. I thought about that for awhile, and have now used the brand in my marketing. My wonderful followers on Instagram and LinkedIn have now got me developing a Podcast channel on tropical travel photography on the Why, How, Where, tips and techniques on creating fine art ocean landscapes. And I am expanding into reels and TikTok and building a brand of logo T shirts and beach gear.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I believe the most important aspect of great photography is developing you own vision, I call it a sixth sense. I often when traveling see objects such as a cluster of palm trees. I put that in the back of my mind and imagine how I can create a stunning image. Once I have a vision of what I want I set out to create that image.

Early in my career I had several advertising coaches help me understand my vision and critique my photography. The common thread was shoot a niche of what I enjoy. Follow your own vision, the audience will find you.

Practice, practice, practice, shoot, shoot, shoot. That develops your vision, skill and confidence.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
My parents were very adamant that I go to college. As a teenager I had thoughts of being a wildlife filmmaker, but that seemed so distant. I graduated in engineering and for several years had a promising career. But that only gave me opportunity to travel some and purchase the camera gear I needed. When the time came for me to turn my career towards the arts, my father never understood and my mother was very supportive. Eventually my father did come around and both parents were very supportive. That gave me the green light to proceed.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
All images by Greg Johnston copyright 2023

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