Johann was introduced to photography while still at school. At university he joined the student photographic club of the Potchefstroom University.
"Bome in mis - 1977"
He received his first salon acceptance in 1977 for a monochrome landscape photo called "Bome in die mis"(trees in the mist).
For the next 20 years, Johann concentrated on black and white photography using his own darkroom.
In 2001 he joined the Vereeniging Photographic Society and started working in colour following a combined film and digital workflow which involved using the C-41 film development process and using a dedicated film scanner to digitise the film for further digital development.
In 2002 Johann joined the Photographic Society of South Africa (PSSA) and successfully applied for his Licentiateship (LPSSA) in digital prints with the Society. In 2006 Johann became an Associate (APSSA) of the Photographic Society of South Africa and in 2011 he successfully applied for his Fellowship (FPSSA) with the Society.
Over the years Johann participated in many national and international salons and received more than 300 salon acceptances. Some of the outstanding achievements are:
"Boom langs die N1"In 2013 Johann was awarded the PSSA Marike Bruwer memorial trophy for his visual art photo titled "Boom langs die N1".
In 2013 Johann was invited to join the international judging panel for the China 15th International Photographic Art Exhibition.
Johann also served as a member of the 2018 German International Salon judging panel(DVF)in Stuttgart.
In 2014 he received a fellowship (FRPS) form the Royal Photographic Society.
Johann served as a judge of the PSSA honours judging panel for several years.
He is an honorary member of China Photographers Association (CPA) and PSSA.
In 2002 Johann was elected to the management committee of the Vereeniging Photographic Society and in 2004 he was elected as chairman of the society. He held this position until 2009 when he had to resign as a result of his involvement in the management of the Photographic Society of South Africa.
Johann served on the PSSA board of directors since 2007. In 2009 he was elected as 2nd Vice President of PSSA and in 2010 as 1st Vice President. In November 2011 Johann was elected to the position of President of PSSA for a 2 year term. His term as president ended in November 2013 after which he remained on the Board as a National Director.
Johann is technically inclined and loves to share his knowledge. As a result he gets invited to lecture at club, regional and national congress events on a regular basis.
In 2012 Johann was invited as a special guest speaker to one of the Nikon Pro Talk seminars on the topic Creative Landscape Photography.
Johann also delivered a lecture on landscape composition at the 2012 Africa Photo and Film Expo – the largest photography event in Africa. Since then he was re-invited to lecture at the Africa Photo and Film Expo 4 times.
In 2013 Johann presented a lecture at the CPA Master Class in China. The topic was Principles of Composition. Later in 2013 he also presented a version of his Creative Landscape Photography lecture at the 2013 China Yixian County Photography Festival.
Other lecture topics presented over the past couple of years include:
Johann is a founding member of the landscape workshop group Photoparadise.org and hosts landscape workshops and safaris on a regular basis.
As part of Photoparadise.org Johann also hosted 6 successful international photo tours since 2014. In 2016 Johann hosted his first landscape photography wokshop in China for Chinese photographers - a very interesting but challenging event!
