Behind the Image is an ongoing MODELS.com series taking a more personal look at both established and emerging creative talent.
Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
Tom Johnson, Photographer
Hometown: The Shire (Oxfordshire)
Based In: United Kingdom
Representation: Mini Title
What sparked your interest in photography, and was there a defining moment that made you pursue it professionally?
I was in a band, but I was really rubbish at playing guitar. I got a camera so I could get closer to the bands backstage and feel like I was a part of it. From there, photography became my way out into the world, to connect with people and things and learn. There was never a watershed moment. I got it into my head that I wanted to do this, and I went after it relentlessly. I get obsessed with things, new ideas, and concepts, and photography is a way of channeling that obsession. For a period of time, I can fully be immersed in something new.
You began your career assisting photographers like Jim Goldberg and Alessandra Sanguinetti. How did that foundation shape the way you approach your own subjects?
It gave me an approach to photography that wasn’t about technicality or fashion. Most people who assist come away with a technical education. I came away with something else, about feeling, exploration, and emotion. Almost all of the assisting I did was on documentary projects, and that left its mark. Technicality has never been the point for me. I make work about people and their performance. I was a restless assistant, too eager to get out and make my own work. When I got back from the road trip with them, I bought a motorhome and drove around the UK in the dead of winter with a friend to make my own project.
How would you describe your work? What’s your trademark?
Emotion, energy, and sensitivity, with a sprinkle of positivity and color. My work always carries a storytelling element. Whether it’s a person or a place, I try to weave that thread through everything I make.
How did you develop your visual language, particularly your approach to color and composition?
My desire to be a photojournalist was the starting point. It gave me a deadpan quality that comes from a place of honesty and a genuine desire to document. Composition comes from my own movement. I start close to my subject and then climb up and down things, experiment, and keep shifting until something clicks. With color, William Eggleston and the early color photographers have always been a big influence. But I refuse to be beholden to the sun; I like to shoot in any weather. I channel a bit of the painter Turner; legend has it he strapped himself to the mast of a ship to put himself inside the storm. That’s where I want to be.
What non-fashion influences (art, film, literature, music) shape your creative perspective?
I’m constantly listening to film scores. The problem is that when you edit photographs to something truly beautiful and emotional, it can mess up the edit. The music adds a layer that isn’t really there, and when you come back to the images in the quiet, they don’t hold the same weight. I’ve learned to be careful with it. I always think about what Stephen Shore said about editing, “do it when you’re happy, when you’re sad, and when you feel nothing at all.” That feels about right to me.
What do you love most about what you do?
Constantly being able to create images, connect with new people, and come up with new ideas. I get to learn about the world and collaborate with some incredibly interesting characters.
What have you watched, heard, or read lately that has inspired you?
I really enjoyed The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. It’s a book about hope at the end of the world, which sounds bleak but isn’t. The last song that made me pull over while driving was Blue and Gold by Madra Salach, with a powerful buildup and this Irish-folk-inspired beauty.
What have you watched, heard, or read lately that has inspired you?
I took a year out after COVID to study psychotherapy. It changed the way I listen and communicate, and the way I photograph and take on work, too.
What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced professionally, and how have you overcome them?
Self-doubt, like everyone. The way through it is always the same: do personal work. If you’re feeling stuck, get out there and explore, get out of your comfort zone.
Who’s One to Watch?
My brother Sam, who I often collaborate with, has just made a feature film with Iain Glen. And my sister, a painter, has just had an exhibition in New York.
Selected Work
Faiska Alves by Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
D Repubblica June 2024 Cover
We took an incredible trip around Rio de Janeiro. We stayed in a favela called Vidigal and shot all around the city, casting local people and models. George (Krakowiak) has an incredible creative presence.
Evie and Kyra by Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
The Evans Girls
This was the first shoot I did that involved fashion. I worked with stylist Charlotte James on a project in Merthyr Tydfil, her hometown, where we styled her friends, family and local people we street cast. Evie and Kyra were the children of a friend from her old school. I loved what adding clothes and fashion could do to an image, how it could elevate it, make it into something different, something slightly off, theatrical, playful and fun.
By Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
Le Monde M November 2016 Cover
My first cover with M Le Monde was a special one. I worked with stylist Charlotte Collet and collaborated with Maxine Leonard of Beauty Papers, both of whom have been long-term collaborators since then. Like many photographers before me, I have an obsession with photographing twins and siblings, so we shot each pair together, playing them off each other to highlight their form, energy and symmetry.
By Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
Collection 006 by Toogood
This was the first shoot I was commissioned to do, with models and a whole team. The art director, Stephen Ledger Lomas saw my work and introduced me to Faye Toogood and her team. We stayed in a beautiful house in Norfolk and literally ran around the fields pissing off the local farmer (sorry again). It was the start of a long collaboration with the brand, full of adventures all over the UK, and hugely important in shaping my visual style into what it is today. Coming from documentary, I found that I loved working with a team and the energy it brings, and I thrive on the fast, off-the-cuff problem solving that fashion demands.
By Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
Hermès Silk Italian Waterskiing Team, Lake Como
I’ve been lucky enough to work with Hermès many times over the years, and they have an amazing ability to come up with creative ideas that just work. This time it was the Italian Waterskiing Team in sharp tailoring, plus a speedboat, plus Hermès ties, equals fun. It was chaos. The clothes got soaked, and we were trying to shape the ties while the team flew along at 50mph. Shooting on water is genuinely hard. Spray everywhere, constant movement, all while trying to keep the silk looking good, with me bouncing up and down in another boat alongside them. I love working with athletes and performers as much as models. They bring a physicality most models can’t, though I also like turning models into performers when I can.
By Tom Johnson | Image courtesy of Mini Title
Butoh, 2025
I know I said I like to shoot in the storm, but this time there was a monsoon outside, and it was too dangerous to head out. The idea was to shoot in a beautiful volcanic landscape, but we were forced into a small hotel room (still very photogenic, since it was in Japan) with a group of eight Butoh dancers. Rather than feeling stuck, we shot some of my favourite images, confined to the dim daylight of a single window. Sometimes constraints can really work to your advantage. This project developed over a few trips into my first book and exhibition, published by Sixteen Journal.
