Bio

Michelle Ranee Johnson is a self-taught, award-winning landscape, climbing/adventure, and fine art photographer based in Fresno near Yosemite National Park, California. She grew up being mesmerized by the photographs in National Geographic and Ansel Adams, and these photos transported her by her imagination to each different location. When she was nine, her best friend invited her to their family’s cabin in Mineral King in Sequoia National Park, CA. This was where Michelle learned beautiful places like what she saw in National Geographic weren’t so distant and far away. Here, she picked up her mom’s camera and started exploring the natural world, looking through her camera’s viewfinder. She kept her photography as a hobby as she went to CSU Fresno to obtain her BA in Anthropology with a minor in Art History and received her Master’s in Geology. Eventually, her passion for photography led her to become a professional photographer. She has been commissioned by companies such as Mad Rock and Rocktape and has worked with numerous other companies (such as Arc’teryx). Michelle Ranee’s fine art photography has also been on exhibit at various locations, such as Van Der Plas Gallery and Site: Brooklyn in NYC, a solo online exhibition called “Cloudscapes” at Red Bluff Art Gallery, and four pieces are on display at R Gallery (Boulder, CO) permanent online “National Parks of the United States” exhibit. To her amazement and honor, her photograph “The Parched Earth” was chosen by National Geographic Yourshot to be put on exhibit at Photofest 2019 in San Miguel de Allende for their assignment “A Planet in Balance.” She won an Honorary Mention at the 2023 IPA awards in the Extreme Sports division. Both are dreams come true for her.