Her vision is subtle. She invites the viewer to find the meaning in the frame. Her shooting style is equally low key allowing her subjects to reveal themselves to the camera. After 30 years of practicing photography, she sees her personal work moving from that of an observer to advocate.

As a Knight Fellow in the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University, Johnson completed a rigorous program that included her Masters thesis, an exhibit about the hate crimes on American Society, Hate Kills.

Johnson first earned a B.A. in photographic illustration and photojournalism at the Rochester Institute of Technology. After graduating she was a staff photographer at The Pittsburgh Press for seven years before beginning her freelance career as a contact photographer for the Black Star then Aurora Photos. She is currently represented by the National Geographic Image Collection.