Leon Johnson

Leon Johnson is an award-winning portrait and fine art photographer based in Augusta, Georgia. He specializes in painterly portraits inspired by paintings of the Neoclassical and Impressionist periods of art, fantasy literature, and vintage BNW Portraits. His love of photography began earnestly while living in Europe and falling in love with the landscapes and architecture of the region. He has been photographing portraits since 2015 and has worked as a part time professional photographer since 2017.
Leon’s art-inspired portraits are intimately composed and are immediately recognizable by the classical and timelessly styled simple garments and the resemblance to oil paintings. Despite his engineering and military background, Leon has evolved as an artist whose work reflects his love of times gone by and lands far away. He aims to give the viewer of his portraiture an intimate look into his subject, a snapshot into a moment of their life. He reinforces the timelessness of his scene with jewelry, period-appropriate hair and makeup and custom-made garments made mostly of coarse linens and cottons. With every portrait, Leon wishes to transport and transform his subject to a different time and place and allow them to see themselves in an artistic and alluring light.

Sunday, July 16, 2023 from 8:30am – 11:30am.

Getting Started in Fine Art Portraits

Leon Johnson is a portrait photographer who draws inspiration from paintings, sculptures, and popular culture to create portraits that resemble fine art paintings from another time and place.  Leon is coming to share with how he analyzes his inspirations and extracts components of original works to then incorporate into his portraits and how he leads his clients from his fine art inspirations to the final product.  He will discuss the tools and styling he uses to create his artworks and the techniques he has found successful in marketing his work to potential clients around the US.  An extremely prolific photographer, Leon will discuss how he allows his passions and love of art to drive his development as a photographer and an artist.