Today we’d like to introduce you to Devon Johnson.
Devon, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story starts with my grandfather, when I was younger my parents had to work all the time so I spent most of my childhood at my grandparent’s house in Medford. I had a very close relationship with my grandfather and he’s the reason I got into photography and decided to pursue it professionally. My grandfather always took photos, of his wife, his kids, of his grandchildren and all the places he would travel, though he never pressured it professionally he had a love for it. That love was passed on to me, like him I always had a camera with me whenever I’d go somewhere, on every school trip I had to have at least 5 disposable cameras and after some time my parents got sick of buying and paying for the prints for those and got me my first digital point and shoot camera.
As I got older, in junior high school I started going to conventions for anime, comics, and video games and I’d take photos there too, of my favorite characters and costumes that just looked really interesting to me. After a few conventions, I started to notice people doing photoshoots, and that really got me interested in trying that, it started with just me doing fun shoots with my friends and as I got into high school and got myself a better camera I started to reach out to people I didn’t know to do shoots at conventions. They were all just for fun and photography was still just a hobby for me, at that time I didn’t ever think about making it a career for myself. At least not until my junior year of high school, I was doing my yearbook intern block when my teacher asked me about what art schools I was applying to, and I told her that I didn’t know I could go to art school with what I was doing. After that day she helped me come up with a list of schools to apply too and make portfolios for, all of which required that I have an illustration and not just photography in my portfolio, meaning I had to learn how to draw. So every day during my intern block, I’d work on an illustration, and every day my teacher would push me to keep going, to finish and then start the next one, I didn’t get into any art school that required illustration in the portfolio. I was not surprised or discouraged by this, because I did get into my first choice school, New England School of Photography.
While attending NESoP I felt my skills as a photographer and my confidence grow, as that happened I found myself forming friendships and working collaboratively. Entering my second year at NESoP I studied Architectural photography, I’ve always been fascinated by beautiful buildings and spaces, I also studied Fashion photography. While in fashion I focused more on photographing cosplayers (people who dress up for comic/anime conventions) instead of more traditional fashion photography. Since graduating NESoP I’ve been working on reaching out to architects and interior designers while pursuing cosplay photography on a more professional level.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has in no way been a smooth road for me. When I was really young I was diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disorder, meaning I have a neurological condition that causes difficulties for academics and social development, so what was coming naturally for everyone else wasn’t coming to me at all. This is the simplest way to explain it, there’s even more that it affects. Because of this, I had to work twice as hard to learn academically and I had to teach myself how to socially interact with those around me. My school did have recourses to accommodate individuals like myself, though they told my parents initially that they would have to put me on ADHD medication in order for the school to accommodate my learning disorder. A public school wanted to refuse to accommodate a child diagnosed with a learning disorder, they also wanted said child to be put on medication for a condition they did not have. The first biggest challenge was fighting to get a basic education from a public school.
The school system I was a part of was known to be difficult when it came to accommodating people like me, and that was very apparent throughout the 12 years spent there. I had teachers who’d ignore me in class, teachers who’d scream at me and kick me out of class when I wasn’t understanding and would ask for help, and at this time I was only 11 so I really didn’t understand why this was happening or what I was doing to deserve it. Not all teachers were bad, some were understanding and actually helped me learn at the same level as everyone else and taught me that I didn’t deserve the treatment I had been given and even helped teach me how to report it to the school. After that, I convinced my parents that I needed to be at the annual IEP meetings we’d have with teachers and administration, The school, however, tried to keep me out. We fought them on that and won, I got to be in those meetings from age 11 all the way to my last meeting in my senior year. I went into high school feeling fairly good, I was able to interact with peers on or at least near the same social level and I was finally able to advocate for myself and make people listen and I felt normal. It was all easy, there were still some teachers who didn’t want to follow my IEP because they felt they didn’t need to, I even had an algebra teacher tell me I was full of shit in the middle of class, all because I solved a problem a different way she was teaching. I used a method that made more sense to me, that her teacher assistant had taught me after he saw me struggling, and in her eyes, I was full of shit.
I didn’t mean for this to focus on my struggles in fighting to get a public education as much as I did, but It was one of the biggest challenges for me, the other challenge was learning cope and live with an anxiety disorder. I developed an extreme anxiety disorder from a combination of my learning disorder and the mild abuse from a toxic school system. Because of this, I suffered horrible panic attacks anytime I was in most social interactions, sometimes they’d even happen when I thought I was feeling okay. Having so much anxiety started to make me even more anxious when I’d think about what I would do with my life and if there was anything I could do with my life given how I was. That’s how photography really helped me, it made me approach people I didn’t know to photograph them and it made me work even harder than I already was because I wanted to pursue something I was passionate about. Photography made it so I was controlling my anxiety and it wasn’t controlling me.
I know this is a lot to read, but I actually cut a lot out. I haven’t talked about my struggles in a long time, half my current friends don’t even know half of what I said here. I’m not ashamed of my struggles and I’m not ashamed to, I’ve just come to a point where my challenges I faced just live in my past.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Devon Marie Johnson Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
While at NESoP I majored in Architectural and Fashion photography. I’m currently working on reaching out to interior designers and architects to work with, in addition to that I’ve continued to go to and do paid shoots at conventions and started doing paid location shoots for cosplayers. I prefer to continue cosplay photography over traditional fashion photography, but I do still book and shoot fashion. Ideally, I’d love to do both professionally I don’t want to prioritize one over the other, though I do understand sometimes I will have to and that doing cosplay photography on a professional level is extremely difficult.
For my architectural photography, I do residential, institutional and corporate. I like all three and couldn’t choose one to prioritize over the others, though I do really enjoy photographing residential interiors because it is a very calming environment. I really like working collaboratively with designers to capture their designs as the envisioned.
For my cosplay photography, I work hard to travel to different conventions and work with as many new people as I can. I love meeting so many different people from different backgrounds as skill levels, I all so love when I have returning clients and I get to see how they’ve changed and grown. My biggest focus when photographing cosplayers, other than showcasing their work, is making them feel comfortable during the photo shoot. After my most recent convention on of my clients expressed that she was grateful for her needs and comfort being considered, and that really meant a lot to me, because that’s what I strive for when doing photo shoots, it’s not just about the photos when photographing people. So I always try to make sure everyone I work with is comfortable throughout the whole shoot, people look their best in photos when they are comfortable.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Truthfully there isn’t anything I really like about the city I am from, except maybe one place that could make an interesting photo shoot location, but other than that it isn’t too interesting, nor a very good city.
I like being in Boston or just outside Boston a lot. It’s my favorite place to go for photoshoots, the different neighborhoods make perfect spots for location shoots. Boston is just one of the many great places to photograph in New England, I’m really lucky to be located here where we have so many beautiful places to visit and travel to.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.devonmariejohnsonphotography.com
- Email: devonmariejohnsonphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devonmariejohnson_photography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devonmariejohnsonphotography/
Image Credit:
Personal image: Allison Burns
Architectural photos (architects, location & designers): Frank Gehry, Gaylord National Harbor Hotel, Justine Sterling Designs & Nicole Carlin Interiors
Cosplay Photos models (Instagrams): Kokkaren, Sebastian, notyoursenpai._ & bunniestastegood
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