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JOHNNY JOHNSTON ~ WORLD-CLASS PHOTOGRAPHER
By LUCILLE SHULER
Reprinted on JohnnyJohnstonPhotos.com by permission from Arabian Horse World
First printed in AHW magazine’s July 1981 issue.
One of the forerunners in the photographic effort to make Arabian horse photos live up to their gorgeous live counterparts was a young man named Johnny Johnston, who really just wanted to get a good picture of his own horse.
''Johnny Johnston'' has now become a household word in the Arabian world, and we are proud to present this longtime devoted friend of the Arabian horse, and of the Arabian industry in America - along with some of our favorite photos that have shown the world just how beautiful the Arabian horse truly is.
Q: Johnny, give us a thumbnail sketch of your early years.
Born in Mobile, Alabama. Had one sister. Mother was a registered nurse. Very, very good mother. Mother and father were divorced when I was six years old. She raised us by herself, and I think she did a reasonably good job. Of course, I'm prejudiced. Went into the service when I was I7. Was in the service 14 years; wound up navigating B-52 airplanes. Service was very good to me, and I mustered out as a first lieutenant.
I'd had horses throughout my service career. In fact, I’d always been around horses. I used to be a hot walker for the Saddlebreds when I was 11-12-13 years old. For the Saddlebreds, a ''hot walker'' is some kid holding the lead shank and walking him. They don't believe in all that circle stuff.
Anyway, around 1960-1962 I bought a seven-month-old Arabian colt from Harry Linden - Robu, by Royal Sun. Royal Sun had keen purchased from Frank McCoy by Linden. He was one beautiful horse. I tell you, right today, if Royal Sun had the right kind of trainin', he'd go National Champion. But I could never get a picture of my horse to satisfy me - I wanted the picture to look like an Arabian. You remember those Arabian magazines back 25-30 years ago - you couldn't really tell whether those horses were Quarter Horses or Arabians or what. There was no standard. So I got some drafting paper and started drawing horses, and gradually I found that the more verticality I put in the drawings, the more they began to look like Arabians.
Q: ''Verticality''?
Back then everybody showed horses with what they called the ''California stretch.'' People liked to make those necks look long - they'd whip those front legs and string that neck out a country mile. But all it'd really do was make the horse look long-backed. So I kinda got into verticality and I started to raise the neck a little bit, and that looked good. One day I finally followed one of the vertical lines on the paper and used that for the underside of his neck and for his front legs, and elevated his tail, and said if I could make a horse do that, now that looks like an Arab. Then I had to figure out how to make a horse do that, because nobody made the horses do that stuff. They made them stand with their legs together; there was no open stance. Bruce Clark helped me stand the horse for a picture, and I ran back home and developed it and brought it back to Bruce's that night. He said, ''That is the best horse picture I've ever seen. That looks like an Arabian.'' And the next thing I knew, Bruce Clark had people all over that area bringing horses in for me to photograph.
Q: Were you still in the service?
Oh, yeah! But I wanted to get out anyway, 'cause that alert is no way to live. You stay in that little alert shack, man, and you get a little crazy. And I wanted to be with my horse a little more, and I wanted to take pictures. So I figured I’d get out and do this for a living. I knew the whole world was just waiting for me.
Whoa! I’II tell you what, nobody wanted Johnny Johnston pictures. All they'd ever heard of was George Axt, June Fallaw, Alexander of Dallas - Johnny Johnston? Who the hell is Johnny Johnston? .
Q: And how old were you then?
Thirty-one. Got a late start. I had to start knocking on doors. I showed Frank McCoy samples of what I had, and Frank said, ''Yeah, you can take pictures of m’ horses.'' Between him and that wonderful lady Marietta Whitcomb, they kept me alive for a couple of years. Man, I was taking baby pictures, weddings - anything to keep going
Q: What year was this?
This was 1963 and 1964. Along about 1964, I was hired to photograph the Sierra Empire Show. Oh, my God! First time I'd ever done a whole horse show. It ran me ragged. Show photographers back then would take forever, because nobody had anybody out there getting the ears up. Well, halfway through that show I decided, hey, I'm not going to wait for that sucker to get his ears up, I'm going to make him get 'em up. So that's where the ruler came from, and the umbrella, and the mirror. I got to taking pictures all around the ring, too. I’d take a thousand pictures at a show, and they'd buy most of 'em, 'cause they'd never had that kind of stuff before. Of course, my former wife Karen processed and developed everything right there on the spot. We built that big mobile lab, and we could process about 500 pictures a day. So that worked out pretty well, for a lot of years.
But it was Frank McCoy who really got me my start. He took me down to the Southern California Arabian Association and introduced me to an awful lot of people. I really was trying to ''set the standard''' and I owe an awful lot to Frank - and to John Rogers. Ol’ Murrel Lacey told him, ''Y' know, Mr. Rogers, I think we ought to get this fellow down to the ranch to photograph these horses.'' And John said, ''I've had 'em all and they ain't any of 'em worth a damn.'' Murrel said, ''Naw, I'll tell you what. This one's pretty good.'' John said, ''Well, Murrel, son,'' - always called him ''son'' - ''if you really think so, all right.'' So I went to the ranch and took pictures like crazy. I thought I was doin' really good. We processed 'em right there on the spot, and John says, ''Do you think that's a good picture of my horse, boy?'' '
What's this - calling me ''boy?'' I've been fooling with thermonuclear devices all over the whole Northern Hemispheres I've been in B-52s for lotsa years, and this sucker, he's calling me ''boy?'' He threw the pictures down on the floor and said, ''Boy, that's crap! That don't look like my horses. My horses are elegant'' I said, ''Whaddya mean, 'elegant'?'' And he said ''Elegant. Don't you know what elegant means?'' I said, ''Well, I thought so, but you better draw me a picture, because I don't know what you’re talking about.'' He said, ''God damn you, boy, I will.” And he drew me a picture of what he wanted. Somewhere he had seen a painting of a horse with his neck arched - not just up and out, but really arched and tensed - like when two studs get nose to nose. I don't think that had ever been done, for photos, before that day. I said, Murrel, do you want to try that?'' And Murrel said, ''Boy, I don't know!'' But he said, ''If he wants it, I guess we're going to have to. *Serafix and Natez really hate each other - I guess we can try it with them.'' God Almighty! You get those two within 20 feet and they look like an atomic explosion! Wow! I'm runnin' around like crazy and I'm saying, ''I don't know about this'' and Murrel's saying, ''Hell, you don't know about it, I'm the one who's holdin' 'em!”
*Serafix was dynamite! And Natez was worse. I mean, they wanted some of each other. We kept edgin' 'em in. I started to get a little excited, 'cause I was gettin' that look that old John wanted. So we took those pictures, and John came in and he said, ''Well, that's a little better. that looks about half-ass elegant.'' And I tell you what; he bought $250 worth of pictures. One day's ranch work and l made $250! Honey, in 1965 that was serious money. Like two grand today, right? Oh, son-of-a-gun, I'm on my way!
Q: You've been the inspiration for so many Arabian horse photographers - did you have an inspiration like that?
Not really. Maloney was a very fine technical photographer. His negatives are still probably the best in the world today. Maloney used a four by five, a huge negative. That in and of itself rendered him much too inflexible to be a great horse photographer.
A horse photographer needs to be infinitely flexible and very ready to catch the incredible things that horses do. They do every kind of thing in every kind of light. You develop a sense that they're going to give you a look, and you're already shooting 'em before it actually happens.
Q: Has your style if photography changed over the years?
Oh, I've changed a lot! Jay Stream thought I was getting too stylized, and he chewed me out bad. (Jay chews everybody out. If Jay could rule the world it'd be a perfect place - he told me so, so I know it's true.) Jay, more than anybody else, got me into action – there really weren't any loose action shots ‘till then.
Remember, the only photographers for years were Polly' Knoll - Polly has an affinity for horses that I don't think anybody will ever top - and me. Anyway, Jay wanted a picture of Fadjeyn that was different, ''flairy.'' Jay used that Fadjeyn picture that I took for years - he loved it. I thought it was terrible! But the more I looked at it, the more I began to see what Jay was talking about.
Over the years I've learned a lot about how a horse's vision works, so now I can do about what I want to with a horse, just using his vision to control him. All prey animals are extremely visually oriented. And if you understand how they see, you can make a horse do incredible things and never touch him - just use his vision.
Q: When you get involved photographing an Arabian horse, do you ever feel any ''bond'' with it?
Always. I really think a horse is probably one of the most intuitive animals of all. Particularly if one is difficult or frightened. You have to get into his space. When someone leans right in your face and wants to talk to you, that makes you uneasy, doesn't it? A human being's average ''space'' is probably a foot, a foot and a half. That's your little living area, and you only let people in there that you wanna let in there. A little less than an arm's length, and you start feeling uneasy. I think a horse's space has a lot to do with his vision. Apparently, a horse begins to see very clearly at about eight to ten feet. If you become a little out of focus to that horse, it bothers him.
I tell you what, there's been an awful lot of whippings that have stopped after I show people that there's an alternative way. Most people aren't basically cruel. Some of the brightest people in the world don't really know what this thing is that they have. I've asked hundreds of people, ''What is a horse?'' Very few people will tell you that he's a grass feeder, he's a prey animal, he's a plains animal. What makes him tick? Why does he think the way he does?
Scientists tell you that on an IQ. level a horse is very dumb. Rats and pigs are smarter than horses. But really it's the scientists who are dumb. They test animals' IQ’s in a food maze. Well, a carnivorous animal's whole life is spent stalking around mazes. But you take any plains animal and put him in a food maze - he'll starve to death. So sure he looks dumb. The scientists don't know how to test a plains animal. When they figure that out, then they can tell me how smart or how dumb a horse is.
Q: How would you rank a horse?
A horse learns faster than a dog. If I'm riding a horse around the show ring, and he sees something to make him spook, he will spook at that exact same spot every time. A horse is capable of instant learning. And it's amazing how fast we can use a lot of that to our advantage if we know how to trigger it. I go into how a horse thinks and reacts with my customers.
Q: What equipment do you use - or is any of that a secret?
Naw, I don't have any secrets. I use a Mamiyaflex C 330 - that's a twin-lens reflex, 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ - and I use a Pentax LX 35mm. Been using 'em for years. For film I strictly stay with a Kodak ASA 100, Vericolor 3.
Q: What tricks do you use to camouflage faults?
I don't really try to camouflage faults so much, and I absolutely will not retouch 'em. What I will do - if a horse has a calf knee on one side, there's a possibility that the other side might not have a calf knee. One side can have a 50-degree angle to the shoulder and the other side 45 degrees. They'll be a little straight in the hock on one side and have perfect angulation on the other.
Q: And if it's got two calf knees?
'Then I will do my best to talk the people out of using a body shot. I tell my customers, ''you have this problem. If you want to spend a thousand dollars to advertise it, go ahead. We'll take the picture. But it's going to show it.''
So what we try to do is take a three-quarter front, or a trotting shot three-quarter front. Forget the body shot. It's amazing how many Arabs have bad legs.
Q: You would say that as a statement?
Oh, it's terrible! You see, we don't ride 'em anymore. They used to play ''you-bet-your-life'' on 'em, but we don't do that anymore. Now they gotta stand around and look pretty, so we breed the prettiest to the prettiest, or the Polish to the Polish, or the Egyptian to the Egyptian, and if he can't walk but just enough to get into the show ring, that's all you really need.
Q: At this point, do you photograph horses exclusively, or do you sometimes shoot other things?
Just horses. I used to do the Houston Livestock Show - cattle, sheep, swine, turkeys, rabbits - 18,000 animals. My all-time photography record is 217 head of cattle in one day.
Q: And you actually photographed turkeys?
Oh, honey, absolutely! Everybody in the Arabian horse industry should go to the Houston Livestock Show one time. You’ll learn more about handling kids, and how to make this thing never stop growing . . . Hey, there is no limit to anything you want to do with livestock if you get the youth with you, and we haven't done that. Everybody keeps worrying about all these big businessmen - and that's wonderful, thank God for 'em - but man, I’ll tell you what, tomorrow is the kids'.
Q: As a veteran of this industry, you must have heard and seen a lot of amusing things in these 20-some years.
The funniest story I ever heard was one old John Rogers told me about Murrel Lacey. John said, ''You know, I've worked with a whole lot of people in my life, but Murrel is really different from anybody I've ever known. You gotta watch what you say to him. He takes instant action.'' I said, ''What do you mean?'' (They'd been together six or eight years by then.) John continued: ''Like the first day that boy came to the ranch. I'd always had this problem with that big *Serafix horse of mine. He'd always had this pet rooster. The rooster'd sit on the stall door and shit all over it and it was always a terrible-looking thing. I'd told three different trainers to do something about that chicken, but they never did. So the first day I'm showing Murrel the facilities and everything, and I said, 'See that bird over there? I want something done about that damn bird. He's crappin' all over the stall door.' And sure enough that son-of-a-bitch walked over there and grabbed that chicken and pulled his head off! I have to be real careful what I say to that fella’''
Now, the most frightened I ever was in my life – Stanley White did it. Don Ford had this Egyptian importation - 30 horses or whatever - and in Egypt, of course, they have a groom on each side, and if one of 'em gets an arm or a leg broke from flailing legs, they just replace the groom, no big deal. But they don't hit the horses. Well, Jeanne Ford is a wonderful lady - I love her to death - and she decided that by golly those Egyptian horses didn't need to be hit.
Well, Stanley White has a way of really making a horse mind him. I mean, that horse will do just exactly what Stanley White says. And probably sooner than later. He uses less physical pain, but the horse thinks he’s suffering more than anybody you've ever seen. That horse'll think he's gonna die. But the instant the horse gives in to him, he's praising him. Stanley is an instant gratification, instant positive-reward trainer. Everyone thinks Stanley's horses are smarter than anybody else's horses 'cause they learn faster - they must be.
Anyway, he'd had these horses about three months, and I'm there trying to take pictures. And we get about eight horses done the whole first day - 9:00 in the morning to 6:00 at night. And we fought and we fought, just to get stand-up pictures. Now, that's ridiculous. You ought to be able to do 40.
So we came up to this little two-year-old chestnut filly, the eighth horse, and the final touch that you do, you give a little yank on the chain to get the head the final inch - the neck's up really high and then you make 'em look at something to get that little reach and fine the throatlatch out. So I told Stanley, okay, I'm ready, go ahead and yank, and Stanley yanked, and she struck and hit him right on the hand. I couldn't believe it – that filly was like lightning. ''My God! You all right?'' ''Yep. Yep. Yep.''
But he was mad. So we got her stood back up again, got her feet placed' and I said, ''Okay, Stanley, yank her head - you ready? Watch that hand'' ''No problem,'' he said. ''She'll never hit me again'' Whup. . . Nailed him again. I said, ''Stanley, you all right?'' ''I'm fine, fine, I said I'm fine! Stand this darn horse and let's get this over!'' So - we stood her up and by now his hand is swelling like a softball - I said, okay, Stanley, you're going to have to get that head up. He said, 'I know it. I know it.'' And he yanks, and she hits him again. He said, ''Mr. Ford, that's all for today.'' And he put that filly up. That was it. He wouldn't talk to us, wouldn't go to dinner with us, wouldn't have nothin' to do with us. Went home and ate his kitchen table, from what I hear! Kitty said it was the awfullest night she'd ever had in her whole life. Came out the next morning bright and early and the first one we had to do was that little filly. We got everything all set, and I said, ''Stanley, ah….'' He said, ''I know. I know. You don't have to tell me.'' So he yanked her, and she struck him again. His hand was black-and-blue. Stanley White walked over to Don Ford and said, ''Mr. Ford, you hold this filly.'' So Don said, ''Sure.'' Don's a big cowboy, he knows all about horses - hell, he's owned 'em for years. He's got to be a helluva horseman, everyone knows that.
So he's got this little rang-a-tang two-year-old filly, and I know horses can't cow-kick - oh, yeah? - they can cow-kick, and they can rear, and they can eatcha, and they can lunge - and Don Ford's arm grew about three feet tryin' to keep that filly off him. He said, ''John, you think Stanley's going to hurry up and get back here?'' Finally Stanley came stompin' back out of the house. Stanley was so mad he looked just like Murrel Lacey. He said, ''Mr. Ford, let me have that filly.'' Boy, was Don glad to give him that filly! So we got her all stood up, and I said, ''Okay, Stanley, now . . .'' ''I'm ready!'' Stanley said, and I said, ''Okay, get that head,'' and he yanked the chain, and when the filly struck him he pulled out a .38 and shot it - BAM BAM BAM! Don Ford jumped two feet in the air and took off like a rocket. I dropped the camera. I thought: I finally did it, I drove one of those trainers crazy and he's goin' to kill me next. I didn't know whether to run or not. I knew he was going to shoot me! He shot that filly three times right square in the head. It was a blank gun - the little S.O.B.! - but I didn't know that! And that's the scaredest I've ever been.
Q: And you got the pictures?
Hey! Don Ford said, ''Stanley, we're going to take a break. I'll tell you what, son. I'll handle Jeanne – you just do whatever it takes to get those horses' minds right. I don't ever want to have to handle a horse like that again. We'll get Johnny back up here in a week or ten days - whatever it takes. You're the trainer here.'' And there were never any more problems.
Q: What is your present rate structure?
$250 day rate, $50 per roll of film, ten exposures, plus motel and travel expenses. I probably take fewer pictures of a horse than anybody you've ever seen. I'll take half a dozen pictures to get a good body shot. I usually work from Scottsdale to October, and then I'll take off November, December and January. When photographers or trainers get burned out, horses suffer. And I don't ever want that to happen to me.
Q: What are the most important things a customer can do for you when you come to a farm?
Have the horses groomed, just like you're going to show 'em in a halter class. If you're ready to go when I get there, I’ll tell you what: you will get absolute maximum dollars' worth out of me, because I will work until we all drop.
When I go to a place for the first time it's always an instant disaster. They have no idea what to expect - they've heard what a mean s.o.b. I am. I've had people say I'm the hardest man in the world on a horse, because they've watched me go up to him and yell at him and slap him. What they don't see is the instant he gives to me, I praise him and pet him, 'cause I do that quietly.
Horses teach each other with very large clubs - they call 'em hooves. I would rarely use a whip on a horse – a whip’ll sting and hurt him for hours. But I will take one of those plastic baseball bats and wallop him, 'cause that's how they learn. You can get his mind right real quick. And it doesn't hurt. You can't hit him hard enough to hurt him. But it looks awful. That's the way horses teach each other, with kicks and bites, exactly how to behave.
I try to encourage groups to bring horses. One of my best customers is a young man named Ed Sutton in New York - I started with him years and years ago. He will get 25 people who each own one horse to come and we will spend three days photographing all those folks' horses. I do that at several places. And that's good, because most of the people that I started with small, have done really well. I started with Messiah, maybe five years ago. They had seven yearlings and two two-year-olds, and an old run-down dairy farm. And now they’re one of the most fantastic ranches you ever saw.
Q: Johnny, what does Maggie do as your partner in the business?
She does everything except take the pictures. She's the secretary, the file clerk, the advertising man - she lays out all our ads, and assists customers with their ads - takes care of all the taxes and all the bookkeeping, all that stuff. Everything, literally, including washing the clothes. There's a lot of nights she'll work till one or two in the morning during the season.
Q: Johnny, what is the hardest thing to photograph in the Arabian horse field?
A two-year-old colt. A two-year-old Egyptian colt. (Unless Stanley White or Stanley White, Jr., is handling him!)
Q: Why is that?
Egyptians are always ''on.'' You know, there's about four kinds of horses' heads. And every narrow-headed horse I've ever seen, from a Saddlebred to an Egyptian Arab, is hyper. Broad-headed horses tend to be placid and easygoing. If he has the physical equipment, I will take a narrow-headed horse in the show ring and beat you to death if you've got a broad-headed horse – in everything except western pleasure and trail. I guarantee it, because those narrow-headed horses, they stay high all the time. You have to get them going with you, or they will fight you to the death. If I had to go hunt a lion, there's two horses I'd choose: *Serafix or any damn Egyptian.
Q: Do you feel that there are noticeable physical differences between the various “nationalities'' of Arabian horses - Polish, Egyptian and so on?
Incredible differences. Absolutely. Polish horses generally speaking, have a little lower-set neck. In most Polish horses - the good ones - the humerus and scapula are almost at an exact 90-degree angle, which is what we want. Polish horses have the best front ends in the world, but some of them have kinda weak rear ends. Egyptians have fantastic rear ends, but they have somewhat limited front ends. If the Egyptian breeders would really get on that… Egyptians have some of the longest hips in the world. The only horses I know of that maybe have better hips than the Egyptians are some of the Spanish horses I've seen. They've got some pretty good athletes.
Q: How about Russian horses?
Russian horses to me are such a mixture - I see every conceivable type. I don't see much consistency. Probably the most beautiful horse that I know is *Padron. Perlane or *Padron, it would be very close. (And I shouldn't say that. But aesthetically speaking, damn, those horses are beautiful!) I can say, ''Oh, that's an Egyptian.'' ''Oh that's a Polish horse.'' But I can't tell a Russian horse, I can't define one. And I'm not knockin' 'em! It's just that they're such a conglomeration.
Q: Most of the Arabian horses you photograph would have to be put in the category ''America's best. '' You've been in it now for at least 20 years. How do you feel the breed is faring as to a) legs, b) type, and c) disposition?
I think legs are getting worse. Judging by the last few Nationals I think type is doing excellently - and I think it should. I think type absolutely has to be Number One. Somehow, though, I would have horses eliminated from competition for certain faults, like calf knees.
And I wish there was some way to measure offset, so that you could define what would be structurally unsound. We all know that a little offset won't hurt a horse at all, but too much offset and he is going to be a mess.
Too straight in the hock - I would flat get rid of that horse 'cause he's going to give you nothing but trouble and he's going to breed that on. A monkey-mouth - that is, an undershot jaw - I would flat get rid of that horse instantly. Not even let him compete. Another eliminating fault would be cryptorchidism (undescended testicles). No way.
Q: How about Arab disposition?
Okay. The horse is no longer a wild animal. If he cannot get along with human beings, then I certainly wouldn't breed to him, and I really would prefer not to have him on the place. I wouldn't care how beautiful he is – he could have all the ''type'' in the world, I would not touch him. But, of course, an awful lot of ''disposition'' is really just the way people handle the horse. I've seen literal ''man-eaters'' - quote, unquote - that weren't vicious at all once you actually got your hands on 'em and started handling 'em.
If I have a customer who has a horse with a bad disposition, I will flat tell him, ''That horse is going to hurt somebody, and I think you ought to get rid of him.'' I've told several people that.
Q: How has the Arabian business changed since you became acquainted with it?
Serious money. SERIOUS money And we've gotten a little too faddy I admire people like Ron Palelek - he really doesn't care whether it's Egyptian, or Polish, or *Serafix, if it's a good, honest, sound-moving horse that he can win with. He Just likes a good horse. And I like that.
Pedro Salas asked me once, ''What do you think of Americans as breeders'?'' And I told him, ''Well, I think Americans are probably by far the world's best merchandisers and the world's worst breeders. We haven't really done anything except throw a lot of money into everything we do. In the dog world, my God! A French poodle couldn't hunt a chicken. They've destroyed the Irish setter. The German shepherd, half of 'em or better are dysplastic. We've done this because we get involved a little too much with the superficial, and that's, I think, because of our lifestyle. I really hate it because we've got some of the finest minds in the world in this business - but there's no place for the people to get good information. They would love to be good breeders, they want to do it right, but where do you go? If you get a book on genetics, the darn thing is so overwhelmingly technical that you can't understand it Obviously we have some people who are good breeders. But I'm talking about the new people who have one or two or three horses, who are going to be the building blocks in this Arab industry. We keep losing people; people buy a big horse for a lot of money and then the next thing you know they get out
People like the Pattersons have gone to enormous, enormous efforts to learn everything possible. And Frank McCoy - I don't care if you like Frank McCoy’s horses or not, you can't mistake 'em for anything but a Frank McCoy horse.
You may not have liked Alice Payne's little horses, but I'll tell you what - she had integrity. She did what she thought was right. Bazy Tankersley you couldn't buy, obviously. Everybody doesn't have to think the same, but they have to do what they think is the right way to go. If you have people who are strong enough to do that, then I think any breed will be successful. If we keep on with this fad stuff, we may have a little problem. Speaking of integrity - throughout history integrity has been one of the rarest commodities on the human scene. I don't think that's anything new. But I happen to believe that lying is very close to murder, 'cause you just killed your soul when you lie. I would state that anything that Ron Palelek tells me, I’ll take it to the bank - right now. Bill Bohl won't lie to you for any amount of money. Messiah Stud - I'll guarantee you, they aren't goin' to lie to you. They just won't do it.
Q: What do you predict will happen to the Arabian industry in the next ten years?
I really think it's going to get bigger and better. I have a feeling that we're going to burn out a little bit on the fads. Lasma will become more and more powerful, the whole Arab horse industry will get richer because Lasma will become more powerful (that's true!) - Gene will sell a horse at auction for ten million dollars and the rest of us will sell one for one million because he sold one for ten million; Ron Palelek will start breeding on a regular scale superhorses that by God look like Arabs and can do; Bill Bohl will finally get the recognition that he deserves as a man of honor and integrity who cares about what he does; David Gardner will probably be rich and lose all knack for being a damn horseman (the dummy!); Stanley White will be a multimillionaire directing both sons – as horse trainers, and he won't let them be anything else, because that's what they ought to be; Ted Gibson will probably become a true Texan, with a Stetson, cowboy boots and all, and I think probably will wind up being a force in the industry; I think Messiah will create a whole new thing in the Northwest.
We seem to be getting really better judging, overall. We're starting to pull more and more type. I love it when a horse as typey as Perlane can be a National Champion. I know that there are people who disagree, because there's never been a perfect horse. Hell, even *Bask wasn't perfect. They all have faults. That's not the point. The point is that if we can get information to people, if we can gradually weed out the faults, we can breed superhorses like old Skowronek was reputed to be. In ten years this industry - if we get a little stronger with youth - can be bigger and better than ever. Even if we lose the tax-shelter angle. There's so many forceful people who will pay $100,000 for a Ferrari - they don't give a damn, if they want it they're gonna have it. And we're always going to have the backyard breeder with one or two horses. And if we always have Lasma, we're gonna be all right.
Q: What does Johnny Johnston do to relax?
I take flower pictures to relax. You have never seen a flower will you've seen it on that macro lens. You see, a flower is infinitely photographable: since it is small, you can go completely around it 360 degrees and the light changes every degree. You can also go completely up and over it, 180 degrees, and the light changes every degree. You can probably learn more about light photographing flowers than you can any other thing.
And I like radio-controlled model airplanes. I love guns, and I love to shoot. But I don't kill anything. I killed a squirrel once, when I was I2 years old, and I buried it, and I said the Lord's Prayer, and I ain't ever gonna kill any thing again!
Q: You used to be: a pretty hefty guy. What do you do to keep the weight off?
I used to weigh 350 pounds; now I weigh about 245. The main things I have to watch are sugar, salt, beef and pork. Maggie helps me remember. She was into bodybuilding, with weights. Very physical. Violent lady - you got to do what she says. (Put that in the magazine.)
Q: Do you have any ''secret ambition'' that you'd like to accomplish if and when?
I really like what I'm doing. I know that doesn't sound very ambitious, but I'd just like to keep trying to do the very best I can. I really have a very good life. You'd have to watch me with horses to understand. I really don't like to get too far away from 'em. I don't know how to explain it, but there's something about being around those big powerful bastards . . . It's kind of a never ending love affair. I just like 'em!
And I like the association. If I were to rate the Arabian horse people on a scale of one to ten - all of 'em, the good and the bad and the liars and the cheaters and the men of integrity and the women of honor - they would probably come out a seven-and-a-half or an eight. And I grade tough - for instance, I've shot only about three “10” pictures in my whole life. It's fun to be with people who love beautiful things, people who are trying to create something. And it's really fun to be with these beautiful things that they have created. I don't know what I'd want to change.
Q: So what's your philosophy of life?
I would like people to say that those who knew me best were the most impressed. You think about that, that takes some doin'! 'Cause generally the better you know people, the more you know all their little problems and faults. And if they’re still impressed with you, you did something right. I don't know what else you need outta life …
Q: Anything more you'd like to say about Arabian horse photography?
Only that I think the Arabian horse industry is a lot more fortunate that it realizes, having people like Jerry Sparagowski, Polly Knoll, Judith, Scott Trees . . . We're all competitors, but most photographers I know kinda respect each other and try to get along. Pictorially, the Arabian horse is 'way ahead of any other breed.
Q: And in the crystal ball for Johnny Johnston?
Push that wheelchair up there and click 'that shutter - he'll still be taking horse pictures.
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