Johnson began taking photographs in college and used it to document his travels and work as an architect, builder, and developer of affordable housing around California. He jumped into fine art photography with both feet several years ago and works to capture images easily overlooked, showing the present and preserving the past through photography. His work has been featured in galleries and museums across the country, including the Palm Springs Art Museum, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, the Brea City Art Gallery, the Amarillo Museum of Art, the Core New Space for Art (Denver), the Harvey Milk Photography Center (San Francisco), the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, the Los Angeles Center of Photography, the Riverside Arts Council, and the National Weather Center Biennale.