Just a Good Conversation: Lynn Johnson

Lynn Johnson is an American photographer known for her contributions to National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and Life among others. Johnson is known for photographing vanishing languages and challenges to the human condition, with a focus on Africa and Asia.  is an American photographer known for her contributions to National Geographic, Sports Illustrated and Life among others. Johnson is known for photographing vanishing languages and challenges to the human condition, with a focus on Africa and Asia. “I’m short,” says Lynn Johnson. “That’s one of the things I pack in my camera bag.” Also invisibility, compassion, sunscreen and outrage. Recently awarded a National Geographic fellowship, Johnson is known for shooting elusive subjects—language, disease, rape, water—and for asking tough questions. Her thesis as a Knight Fellow at Ohio University probed hate crimes; at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications she challenges master’s students to push past their own comfort levels. Dedicated to exploring the far reaches of the human condition, she spends maybe two months a year at home in Pittsburgh, packing that camera bag over and over.