Meet David Johnson, award winning outdoor photographer and all-around good guy

Editor’s note: David Johnson was born and raised in Cook County, Minnesota but his pictures are seen throughout the country and beyond. He takes pictures for the Cook County News-Herald, and we will be sharing them with you. We hope you enjoy them as much as our readers do. Here is David in his own words.

Where to start? I’m 66, a fourth-generation cook county resident and I retired from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Fisheries a few years ago after 40 plus years.

 I always liked to take pictures. I had a Brownie camera when I was eight or nine, and I would be hanging out the car window taking pictures on family trips, and all of the pictures that I took were awesome shots at the time (snicker).

I have my array of cameras with me all the time, all fitted with different lenses, so I’m ready for just about any scenario I encounter. I shoot Nikon most of the time but have recently added Sony to my arsenal.

 I really like the built-in interval timer function of the Nikon; I can set up two, three, four, or more cameras with the timers set for different lengths of time on each camera, with each camera having a different lens. The result is that the scene has many different looks to choose from to continue with post-processing.

 I’ve been doing this for many years. It’s a semi profession and it keeps me in gas money and new gear.

 My website is www.davidrjohnson.zenfolio.com. I’m on Facebook and Instagram.

Every season is my favorite time to take pictures, but photographing Mother nature’s fury, storms, lightning, and the night skies, Northern Lights, you never know what you will encounter.

For those getting into photography, YouTube is free and has a wealth of information that will save you hours of time learning how to use your equipment, setting up your camera, how to get started on that perfect shot. One thing I get asked quite often is, ” Do I ever sleep?” I take lots of cat naps.