Devon Johnson, is currently working towards a BFA in Photography at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Devon specializes in large format photography, which he hopes to preserve and promote as an educator and practitioner. For his historical process work, Devon makes contact prints from large format negatives, as he believes this produces unsurpassed detail. For his black and white and color work, Devon also shoots using large format cameras and still prints using traditional silver based processes. His goal is to obtain a graduate degree in historic preservation, and continue working as a photographer. For more information see his Curriculum Vitae.

Devon explains the motivation for his work:
“As a Virginia native it has been hard for me to escape the State’s history. Visual reminders of the past are a part of everyday life. Documenting what remains of the past has been a way for me to attempt to show that there is a strangely beautiful transition as historic sites revert back into the natural landscape. Time, weather, and lack of tending are part of the natural process that will send all back, once again, to the soil. I have opted to work using antique cameras and much older printing techniques, to stimulate the audience into thinking back to the human history of these sites that perhaps makes them uncomfortable. My intention is not to glorify the past but to show that its legacy is slowly fading from our view but should not be forgotten. I hope that these photographs will generate additional interest in historic sites so that they may be preserved for future generations.”