Corwin CJ Moneyway Johnson spent years in photography and film before turning to writing. He describes framing scenes in his mind and struggling to find words for complex emotions. He paused his mental-health podcast Inner Monologue to finish his book after his mother died of cancer, and he's careful about guest selection to avoid fringe wellness claims that could damage credibility.
Chapters
Like, I would go back and I would like watch some of the footage in the early part of the tour of the plate— the environments we were riding through— so I could describe them, explain them, maybe listen to some complaining between Zach and I if we were on the camera. Um, but then like any type of interviews that I did, I was able to use that to kind of like navigate and tell the story of like what we were learning from other people. So even though I didn't get to make the film that I wanted to make, uh, when I got home I was like, well, I love visual art, I love photography, I love films, and I love documentaries. Let me do the one thing that I'm terrified of. I'll write a book. So, um, yeah, it took me a while, but like I still have, uh, I still have a love for, for film. I love doing photography. Most of my Instagram— I have two different Instagram accounts, and one of them is just me taking pictures, um, whenever I, whenever I see something interesting. Like, the way that I navigate the world, I see in, um, in frames. I see the world that I live in in frames. So like, when I'm driving down the street I like, I'll just like quickly in my mind's eye, like I take like a snapshot, just boom, like of the environment, like the road and the vanishing point and how like the, the telephone poles are all lined up. Like when I'm at work and I'm dealing with a, with a patron and somebody's over their shoulder and looking at me or looking away, like if I could take a picture in any situation that I'm in at any given time, even at work where people wouldn't wouldn't like freak out, I would do it. I would do it all the time. Like, I, I'm constantly taking pictures in my head of my environment and looking at how light, you know, how light is, is cast and, and how it spreads along like a floor, a ceiling, an object, um, how light is shaped by and shadows are created by objects. I'm constantly like I just live in that visual world. And so it's, it's, it's been an— it's been very interesting, um, journey for me to translate how I see things visually into words. Because I, I say this about emotions a lot of time, that like the, the, the spectrum of emotion is so vast that there are probably emotions that we have as human beings that we just don't have words for. And that's where poetry comes in. That's where the importance of being poetic. So it's been interesting to like see things and like ask myself, how am I— how am I— how do I respond to this beautiful image or this sad image that I'm looking at? And then try to translate that. If I can't find the— if I can't find a single word, how can I string some words together in a metaphor or in a sense, like, like in a poetic way, to where hopefully other people who read it will feel the same thing that I felt in that moment. So it's been like a really interesting journey to go from like being obsessed with all things visuals to then trying to describe them in the written word. So, but yeah, I could talk, I could talk about movies and, and comic books and, and photography all day. Like, I'm I'm a big nerd about all that stuff. I already got my ticket. I got 2 sets of tickets for Deadpool. I'm, I'm all about it.
So you ready, huh?
So I'm ready.
Yeah, that's, that's pretty interesting, man. So you also have a podcast. What is your podcast based on?
I have 2 podcasts. One I haven't recorded because it's, it's a, it's an invert, and it's a, um conversational interview, like, like the way that yours is set up. And it's for, it's for mental health. It's— that one's called Inner Monologue. I haven't recorded a new one in a while because I've been focusing. I had to finish the book. My mom passed away. I had to finish that. Yeah, she died of cancer last year. My mom passed away. I, I kind of take care of my dad. I had to finish the book and I've— now I want to promote the book. I've been talking to people for 7 years and giving them a platform to share their story, so now I feel like it's, it's, it's my turn to provide some of that for me. So I'm always open for a guest that is willing, uh, and somebody that I trust. Uh, one thing with the pandemic, that being in a space of the mental health space, you get a lot of interesting folks that believe interesting things. And the last thing I want to do is have somebody on and halfway through the conversation they start promoting the health benefits of drinking their own urine. So, um, I don't want to give somebody like that a platform, you know. And you'd be, you'd be surprised at some of the kooky things people come up with in the wellness space, man.
