A clerk and assistant in the Uncovenanted Civil Service (The Uncovenanted Civil Service was recruited almost entirely from persons born in India, whether European, Eurasian or Asian), Bombay 1848 – 1861. A founder member and secretary of the Bombay Photographic Society in 1854, he was editor of the society’s journal. Johnson also ran a daguerreotype studio in Bombay from 1852 – 1854 and a photographic studio from about 1855 until the late 1860’s, the latter briefly in partnership with
William Henderson. The pair collaborated on the production of the Indian Amateurs Photographic Album, which ran for 36 issues between 1856 – 1858, each number containing three original prints. On his return to England, he published the photographically illustrated The Oriental Races and Tribes, Residents and Visitors of Bombay (2 Vols, London, 1863 – 1865).