A Washington state native, Julie Johnson is a full-time freelance photographer and writer, with a specialty in outdoor photography. Her work has appeared in such publications as Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, WILDFOWL, North American Hunter, Petersen’s Hunting, Wing & Shot, Game & Fish publications, Western Angler, The Trapper and Predator Caller, the NWTF’s Women in the Outdoors magazine, the U.S. Tobacco Company’s Outdoor Guidebooks, and the International Hunter Education Association’s Hunters Handbook, as well as countless others.
Presently, Johnson serves as the staff photographer for the Portland, Oregon-based O’Loughlin Trade Shows (1997-2007). Since 1997, she has presented photography and hunting/fishing seminars in conjunction with the National Wild Turkey Federation’s “Women in the Outdoors” program and, with her husband, M.D. Johnson, as part of the O’Loughlin Sportsmen’s Shows seminar series.
Not one to sit by and watch others affect change, Johnson served on the board of directors for the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) from 1999 through 2002. Currently, she’s an active member of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), with two Grand Slams (1998 and 2005) under her hunting belt - and is the only woman in the country to have harvested the Washington State “Mini-Slam” (Eastern, Merriams, and Rio Grande). “I grew up hunting, fishing, and enjoying the outdoors,” she says. “My entire family was - and still are - avid outdoors people, and I consider myself fortunate not only to have grown up surrounded by such wonderful people, but in such an outdoor-rich environment as Washington state.”
A fanatical big game hunter, Julie has hunted blacktails and Roosevelt elk in western Washington, and harvested her first whitetail - a fine southern Iowa buck - in 1998. Introduced to turkeys in the Spring of ‘94, she’s gone on to harvest birds in half a dozen states, and adds to that list each year. “We have fantastic turkey hunting here in Iowa,” she says, “but I dearly miss the waterfowling opportunities we had back in the Pacific Northwest, particularly along the coast. Pintails, widgeon, green-wing teal, divers, sea ducks - we had it all, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I learned and how much I experienced since beginning ‘my life’ (she chuckles) as a waterfowler.” With the help of good friend and consummate waterfowler, Steve Sutton, Julie, along with her husband, harvested their first-ever drake harlequins off the coast of Washington state in January of 2005. “That was an incredible experience,” she recalls. “Just being on the saltwater was a thrill, but to add birds like harlequins, scoters, brant, goldeneyes, and a long list of non-game birds. It was fantastic.”
Fishing, too, occupies much of her leisure time. “We were always fishing for salmon or steelhead back home,” she remembers. “Sturgeon, too. Sturgeon are probably my favorite, both to catch and to eat. But I love jetty fishing for cohos in September. And sea bass and surf perch, too.” Julie’s on-the-water experience encompasses both freshwater and saltwater, with her “life creel” including silver, king, and pink salmon, steelhead, halibut, several species of trout, largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, and “too many panfish to count.” A trip to southeast Alaska in 1999 introduced her to a variety of rockfish species, and re-introduced her to old favorites like halibut and sea bass. “I still enjoy fishing tremendously,” she says. “Perhaps moreso than hunting. It’s always been so relaxing, and now with the business we’re in, I’ve been blessed to enjoy some of the finest angling opportunities that this country and Canada have to offer.”
Since 2000, Johnson has supplied award-winning photography for the couple’s Successful Hunting series of books, including titles – Successful Duck Hunting (2000), Successful Turkey Hunting (2001), Successful Small Game Hunting (2003), and Successful Goose Hunting (2004). A fifth book – Guide to Pheasant Hunting – was released in August of 2006; a sixth – Waterfowling: Beyond the Basics – is scheduled for release in August of ’08.
She also has articles and/or photography credited in the following publications:
Bass West
Big River Outdoors
Blackpowder Guns & Hunting
Buckmasters Young Bucks
Cabela’s Outfitters Journal
Camping Life
Crappie
Dakota Outdoors
Field & Stream
Fur-Fish-Game
Heartland USA magazine
In-Fisherman
Lake ‘n Trail
Michigan Sportsman
Mossy Oak’s “Hunting the Country”
NBS Fishing and Hunting
New York Sportsman
North American Hunter
Ohio Fisherman
Ohio Game & Fish
Ohio Out-of-Doors
Outdoor Life
Pennsylvania Sportsman
Permission to Hunt
Petersen’s Hunting
Predator Xtreme
Rocky Mountain Game & Fish
Southern Sporting
TNN Outdoors
Trapper/Predator Caller
Turkey & Turkey Hunting
Turkey Call magazine
Virginia Outdoors
Walleye USA
WA-OR Game & Fish
Wheelin’ Sportsman (NWTF)
Wildfowl
Wing & Shot
Women in the Outdoors