Just thougt I would post a recent interview with moi!  So cool to read anothes interpretation of my art and my soul.  I am blushing and honored.  Now if only I could write like this. Deb has so much talent as a writer.  It is always such a joy of mine to reval in the talents of others! 

An Interview with Caroline Johnson, Photojournalist and Digital Artist

Peering beyond the chicly decorated, front sitting room of Caroline Johnson’s Florida home, I gaze at the leaves dancing in the wind outside, on this brisk November morning.  Jack Johnson playing vaguely in the background, I take the scenery in.  Being in this space, Caroline’s space, is like a window into her style’s….soul.  As if being in a metropolitan gallery, the walls embrace her romantic, edgy photographic work.  But I have this gallery all to myself, enabling me to pensively examine her digital mastery and intriguingly enough, the rare moments of families’ lives.  It’s highly magical how Caroline has managed to capture, for all eternity, the exact emotional elements of these peoples’ experiences.  Yes, her work is fresh, modern and elegant, a visual feast for the eyes.  But there is something more. Caroline has helped her subjects to show who they truly are, has invaded their persona and allowed them to be free. The way that man is looking at his bride.. the all-encompassing combination of love, joy, excitement, lust, vulnerability, gratitude and safety. It permeates through the canvas.

Caroline breezes into the room, bearing a welcomed gift of strong coffee basined in swanky-ass Vera Wang china. The master of the home, Max, a horse-of-a-dog at my feet, rolls his eyes at her arrival seemingly not as impressed as I by l’artiste.  The vibrant artist opens the patio doors and sighs softly, “I adore the fall. It is when people get back to a point of renewal,” her smile widens mischievously, “and they get snugly with one another.”  Asked if she misses her cooler hometown of Seattle, Caroline acknowledges, “I loved Seattle, the culture and the people were amazing.  I really felt connected to the beauty of nature there, snowboarding outdoors, and my love for the water.  It was there that photography chose me.  I know that sounds corny.”  She’s referring to her accidental discovery for her hidden gift while working on her business degree.  The professional gurus that helped fuel her passion were Italian photographer, Sante D’Orazio and photojournalist Elliott Erwitt, renown as the “master of indecisive moments.”

Internationally published herself, and being honored for the past three years in the Knot’s Best of Weddings, Caroline admits, “I am especially elated when one of my clients is featured and published.  I feel so honored and it’s a special bonus for them that their once-in-a-lifetime moment can become an inspiration for other couples.”  Scanning the canvases of events from all over the world, I wonder which shoot was her favorite.  Her large, blue eyes glisten with earnestness, “They’re all my favorite. In all the shoots I have been blessed with the ability to capture my subject’s beauty. Through experience, I have learned when the exact moment is to steal people’s truth.  I take my passion very seriously, but with a playful perspective.” Brushing a blonde lock aside, she tucks her legs behind her on the couch like a girls’ girl, “But, Oh!  I do love to travel, especially in Italy!  There’s something amazingly romantic about how openly in love the people are there and there is a tremendous element of visual stimulation with its oozing historic pulse. I am very in tune with how the Italians don’t take things for granted and live every day to the fullest.  That pretty much defines me.”

Sipping my coffee, my mind wanders and I feel a tinge of jealously when I recall the valley of difference between my own wedding photos and these pieces and wonder what it must feel like to work with such a gifted master.  Caroline laughs out loud at the compliment, “I admit that I am very serious about my passion, but in an actual shoot, I’m quite fun and have the gift of relaxing my clients, making it an enjoyable experience.  I have been blessed with so much love in my own life and feel so tremendously honored that people entrust the memories of their special days with me.  Waking up in the morning with that feeling is indescribable. This is what they really mean by dream job.”  And with that I wonder about her motto Love Happens and think to myself how marvelous it must be to Happen to Love the gifts you’ve been given and to share them every day.

~written by Deb DiCairano