Johnny Crawford is a visual storyteller and educator from Jackson, Georgia, who has documented the human spirit in 45 states and four continents for 38 years specializing in black and white portraits. Seven years before this project, Johnny was an award-winning staff photographer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) for over 28 years. During his tenure at the AJC, he photographed the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, 2004 G8 Summit of World Leaders, 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, GA; 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, and five U.S. Presidents. He also was the AJC beat photographer for Georgia Tech football from 2003 to 2013 and the AJC beat photographer for NASCAR from 1988 to 2013. Johnny has an M.A. in Photojournalism from Ohio University and B.A. degrees in Psychology and Public Relations from Morehouse College. He taught photography and photojournalism at Grady High School, Marietta City Schools Adult Education Program, Clark Atlanta University, University of Georgia, Middle Georgia State University, and Mercer University in Macon. He is married to Jacqueline Crawford and has three adult sons.
The Vietnam Black Soldier Portrait Project
Johnny Crawford | 2020
These portraits are frozen moments in history that portray Black soldiers as caring and patriotic Americans. This project puts human faces on historical events and shows the medical needs of Americans. Using black and white photography paired with strong emotions and intense eyes, this work seeks to show integrity, courage, loyalty, patriotism, wisdom, empathy, and humility.