From the Moon to the Earth

Bloomington resident Scott Johnson does not sit at work all day behind a desk.\nHe does not have a regular 9 to 5 job, and he is his own boss. Johnson spends his days developing film in his darkroom, creating images in his studio and, between 12 and 15 days a year, he works all night long making pictures of the night sky.\nJohnson has a unique profession, not only because of the unusual hours, but because he creates art out of nature. He does astrophotography, where he uses a telescope with an attached camera lens to "photograph the night sky," according to Johnson. \nHis chosen "career" is making photographs of solar, lunar and planetary objects. He also takes pictures of galaxies and nebulae and star fields. The finished products are colorful and unique works of art.\n"I like being able to create some of the most interesting photography ever produced," he said. \nJohnson began photographing images in microscopes in the 1980s and became interested in photography using telescopes in 1986. He travels to about 15 arts and crafts shows and festivals a year to promote his local business, Deep Sky Astrophotography. He works at shows in the Midwest and in Florida. Johnson recently had a booth at Bloomington's 4th Street Festival.\nHe taught himself how to do astrophotography through trial and error, and through tips that were posted on Internet sites. It took him a couple of years, and a lot of planning and dedication to learn the procedures and start up an astrophotography business. \n"(Astrophotography) is very difficult to master, it is probably the most demanding type of photography," Johnson said.\nThe director of the 4th Street Festival, George Zajicek, said he admires Johnson's professionalism and dedication to his craft. "Many photographers have a hard time finding direction, but he's found his direction early," Zajicek said. "He strives for \nperfection." \nHe said Johnson's artwork provides something unique for art lovers' collections. "He is well on his way to greatness," Zajicek said.\nJohnson noted that people who attend the shows are enthusiastic about his art work. He said it has "universal appeal," probably because people cannot see most of the images he captures through his telescopes. An enjoyable aspect of his job is meeting people who have an appreciation for his work, he said.\nA drawback of his job is that sales of his photographs are dependent on the weather. \nBut Johnson likes the opportunity to "use the latest, changing technologies, and constantly incorporating them into my work to improve image quality."\nLorraine Merriman Farrell, who designs artwork for her local business, Fossil Rain Natural Wonders and Handcrafted Jewelry, 115 N. College Ave., was attracted to Johnson's work and has some of his pictures on the walls in her studio. Farrell enjoys the way he presents his work, and noted that his work is affordable.\n"His art is composed well, the color is rich and it covers a broad array of subject matter," she said. "He is always looking into new ways of framing and presenting his work."\nTo take these unique pictures, Johnson uses an adapter to attach a camera to the optics of one of his telescopes. He then guides the telescope to capture an image of stars. The process is different for the different objects he is taking a picture of. An image usually takes two to three hours to film, he said.\nAnother way Johnson films images is to strap the camera on top of a motorized telescope in order to track the stars. This technique allows him to photograph a large field of view.\nIt is harder when Johnson cannot see an object: filming becomes a two-night process. On the first night, Johnson tries to decipher where exactly the image is, with a test image. On the second night, he sets up the telescope to frame where he thinks the images is, and then rotates the camera to perfectly frame the object.\nJohnson does his work far from downtown Bloomington and the IU campus. His house and studio are in a wooded, rural area of Monroe County, east of town. In 1997, Johnson built an observatory outside of his studio exclusively for photographing the sky. He explained that there are a few other people in the Midwest who do this work, but that the majority of astrophotographers work in the West, where the sky is really dark. \n"The problem is light pollution, you must be far away from cities for the kind of long exposure work that I do," Johnson said.\nThe main instruments Johnson works with are a 5 inch refractor telescope, an 8 inch Meade telescope, an Olympus OM-1 for 35 mm film, and a Pentax 67 camera for medium format work. Because of excellent equipment and adapters, "great images are now possible for amateurs," Johnson said.\n"In this business, you have to stay on your toes; techniques and films are always changing," Johnson said.