#275 • Johnny Johnson "River Dance", "Breach of Worlds" & "Romancing the Dawn" Photographs

Part of The Johnny Johnson Estate Auction (timed auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

Starting at $5.00

Status: Available

Bidding closes Nov 3, 2026 7:31 PM AKST

Category: Art

Three signed and numbered photographs by Alaska wildlife photographer Johnny Johnson (1947-2025). The first work, "River Dance", is dated circa 2015 and numbered 42/950. Johnson described the scene: "As the sun set, I knew it was time to get off the river, but it was just too beautiful—too exciting. I decided to stay a little longer and was rewarded when an adult grizzly emerged from the crimson current with his prize— a large sockeye (red) salmon. It seems the gulls are always present hoping for scraps. During the three months I spent documenting life on a salmon stream for the National Geographic, I learned a great deal about the importance of salmon to a healthy watershed. Each day was an adventure, a new chapter in my understanding of our vanishing wild world." The second work, "Breach of Worlds", is dated circa 1994 and numbered 66/950. Johnson described the scene: "A humpback whale performs a full body breach near Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska. When 40 tons of whale bursts from the water your heart stops and for a few quick seconds this behemoth of the deep appears. Then in a great crash of water it is gone." The third work, "Romancing the Dawn", is dated circa 2011 and numbered 61/950. Johnson described the scene: “As I pulled up to Denali National Park Headquarters in the pre-dawn chill of mid-September, I saw my friend Gary eagerly awaiting me. "it's a perfect morning," he exclaimed excitedly. Gary was Denali Park's Chief Ranger and an avid amateur photographer. The mating season for moose had just started and the associated interaction often provided excellent opportunities to photograph moose behavior. It wasn't long before we spotted a large bull moose defending a harem of more than a dozen females. Wasting no time, we grabbed our cameras and bushwhacked thru the brush three-quarters of a mile. We set up our tripods just as the morning light turned the bull's enormous antlers into beacons of gold. To our delight, a young female approached the bull and they began to nuzzle. Minutes later, it was over and they were gone. "Did you get that?" Gary asked in a whisper. "Absolutely" I said, "it just doesn't get any better than that!"” All three are signed, dated, and numbered in gold leaf ink and printed on Fuji Crystal Archive Supergloss paper. The photographs are shrink-wrapped on board. The largest measures approximately 18.5" x 24.5".