Randy Johnson’s photography to be exhibited in Cooperstown

After several years of planning, a photography exhibit featuring Hall of Famer Randy Johnson has developed in Cooperstown.

Johnson, the five-time Cy Young Award winner who was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2015, will have his photographs featured in an exhibit at Cooperstown’s Fenimore Art Museum in 2023. The exhibit, running April 1 through Sept. 17, will include photographs Johnson took during multiple trips to Africa following his playing career.

“A few years ago, before COVID, an idea was tossed around that I would take photos of some of the Hall of Fame artifacts and that would turn into an exhibit. But then COVID hit and things got delayed,” Johnson said.

Earlier this year, Johnson provided photos taken at various rock concerts for an issue of the Hall of Fame’s magazine, Memories and Dreams, which led to the idea of an exhibit again.

“I wanted to explore what my body of work has the most of,” Johnson said. “The people and animals I’ve come across during my visits to Africa.”

The Fenimore Art Museum, located within walking distance of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, is a museum of American art which stands on land once owned by novelist James Fenimore Cooper. The Fenimore occupies a mansion built by Edward Severin Clark, whose brother, Stephen Carlton Clark – one of the founders of the Hall of Fame – gave the building to the Museum along with much of his fine art and folk art collections.

Johnson’s photography exhibit at the Fenimore will feature about 30 images from trips to Rwanda, Ethiopia and Kenya.

“A lot of people think I just started as a photographer when I retired in 2010. That’s not the case. I’ve been taking photographs since high school and went to USC to study photojournalism and ended up shooting for the college newspaper,” said Johnson, who worked at the Daily Trojan for Jon SooHoo, who would go on to become the Dodgers’ team photographer for more than three decades. “Then I got drafted (by the Expos) out of college, and photography took a little bit of a backseat as I was trying to get better at my craft of baseball. Baseball was my livelihood, and it’s still a great interest to me, but it opened a lot of doors to my passion. Baseball was all of my life, essentially, from the age of seven until I retired at age 46. But then I was able to step away from it for a while and get back to photography.”

Johnson’s deep-rooted interest in the camera still has the power to surprise. In mid-October, a photo of Johnson working with a long-range lens at an Arizona Cardinals surfaced on social media and went viral.

“People thought – and think – that I just got into photography, but that (Cardinals game) photo was six or seven years old,” Johnson said. “I’ve been to a couple NFL games in my life. I enjoyed the opportunity – one that I probably never would have had if it wasn’t for my baseball career. But when people started calling me and let me know about that photo, I had to tell them how old it was.”

But for the 59-year-old lefty who won a remarkable 303 big league games, a second career in photography keeps him young at heart.

“(Photography) gives me an outlet to stay focused on something, much like planning out my day on gameday when I would pitch,” Johnson said. “Some days go well and some don’t – both in pitching and photography – but you have to be prepared for what you might experience. I never said that I am a great photographer. I just have a great deal of passion for it.”