We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Derrick Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Derrick thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

One of the most meaningful project i’ve worked on was a project entitled The Mundane of Vincennes which I released last year and was a collection of 82 film photos I captured during my time in Vincennes, Indiana. I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed kid excited and nervous to be at college and be away from my family, though I wasn’t too far. My first experience with film photography was my first year there; I had no idea how this medium and class would impact my life. So I wasn’t too interested in it at the beginning. It was tricky, and I could never remember how aperture and iso worked, but I started to fall in love with it, and my passion for photography grew. I compiled an extensive collection of black and white and color negative films throughout my time at VU. The black and white film was Ilford Delta 100, the leftover rolls former classmates didn’t use or want anymore, while the colored film, Kodak Gold, came from a local Walgreens. I began photographing the campus and the things I saw before I started to branch out into the town of Vincennes and somewhat started to fall in love with the small city and its mundane places. I would photograph buildings, the campus, college life, and a few photos of people on occasion. This project is meaningful to me because it was the first time I actively accumulated a large portion of photos from one place and being able to look back on each photo and know where I was, how I was feeling and what I was thinking. Vincennes is somewhere I hold close to my heart, all the moments and memories I created during this time.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

My name is Derrick, but online I go by Saint. I am a photographer and artist based in Nashville, TN but originally from Evansville, IN. I’ve been doing art and being around art for most of my life, my mom was a wedding planner, and my grandma could draw and paint, but I didn’t get into photography until I was a sophomore in high school, taking pictures of my friends and small music shows. My interest in photography continued to slowly build until I reached my senior year of high school and decided that I wanted to pursue a degree in photography that fall; I would be attending Vincennes University. I spent the next two years learning the basics of photography, experimenting with various mediums, and shaping my style thanks to my degree is a concentration. In early 2020 I visited my current school, where I’m pursuing my bachelor’s in commercial photography, Nossi College of Art, in Nashville, TN. Throughout the rest of 2020, my work consisted of street photography and portraits during the latter half of the year. Since then, I’ve worked diligently on both my craft and my learning of photography. I am proud of my hunger to learn more about photography and different photographers, how I photograph subjects, and my editing style. I try my best to be someone with many hats and varying degrees of understanding when shooting. What sets me apart from others is a tricky question; honestly, there are no answers; in my eyes, that doesn’t end with someone saying, “but this person does what you do.”. What sets me apart from others is myself, Saint, Cloud, Derrick, or whatever name someone knows me by.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

There are two overall goals that I am chasing on my creative journey; the first is being able to open up a small creative building in my hometown of Evansville, IN, as a safe space for younger kids after school who may not have access or the opportunities to learn and practice different artforms and mediums. I was lucky to have grown up around art, and being encouraged by my parents and loved ones amplified my love for art and my desire to learn about art. I could spend hours discussing what I want to do with this unnamed creative arts building, but I have a lifetime to see it through and build the proper connections to ensure this dream comes true. My second overall goal is more abstract, but I wanna be able to live my life as a sound artist, with the freedom to create without worry and being looked back on in the far future, long past my life, not as an “impactful artist” but one that enjoyed both the highest highs and lowest lows of my artistic path. These goals keep me up at night, rattle my bones with excitement, and keep me pushing forward.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think some of the most rewarding aspects of my being an artist are being able to share how I perceive the world around me, use my emotions to the fullest, and create work that reflects various aspects of my life. But more than that, I can share my gifts and eyes with those who are constants in my life and those who only flicker in the sky briefly, and hearing them express how something I either captured or created makes them feel is always a plus. The ability to communicate and release emotions and abstract thoughts through my art and photos and create a backlog of art is also a plus.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cloudphoto.me/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vibeclouds/

Image Credits
1. Ry Nycole 2. Jada Burton 3. Anna 4. Kimberly Jay 5. N/A 6. Baby Keem 7. Obootney Lee 8. Nick (RetroCo)