GREETINGS FROM OUR TEAM!

DAVID JOHNSON

DAVID JOHNSON

Founder & Director

Thanks for stopping here to get to know our staff a little bit. They are truly what has made Silent Images successful for the past 12 years! I learned a lot and made some mistakes in the early years of building SI, but the one thing I did right was surround myself with a talented team!

I graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 1998 with a passion to educate, and I spent my first chapter of life teaching English and coaching tennis in Charlotte. During this season, I spent my summers overseas, which then led me to uncover my passion for people, photography, and stories.

In 2006, I left teaching to be a professional “storyteller” with my first major assignment to Darfur, Sudan. I was commissioned to photograph those impacted by the genocide, and out of that first project, Proverbs 31:8 was laid on my heart: to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” It was out of this conviction that I founded Silent Images and wrote and published Voices of Sudan in 2007 and Voice of Beauty in 2009.

Although SI has sent me all over the world, my most fulfilling journey takes place in Matthews where I live life with my beautiful wife, Andrea, and our two daughters.

Katia Faroun

KATIA FAROUN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

It was my mom’s dedication to Creative Memories scrapbooking that first exposed me to photography. I gradually upgraded from my first camera — a bedazzled, hot pink gift from my mom — to a Canon Rebel I bought when I was 15 years old. Around that time, I subscribed to National Geographic and decided that I wanted to be a photojournalist when I grew up. My passion for photography was nurtured by a curiosity about other cultures, and after a trip serving in Costa Rica, I could clearly see how God wanted me to use photojournalism to tell stories of how he’s working around the world. Since studying multiplatform journalism and Spanish at Duquesne University, my desire to learn and tell stories has taken me from Pittsburgh to the U.S.-Mexico border, from Spain to Morocco, and now to Charlotte. Working with Silent Images is a gift, and I can’t wait to grow and serve with this wonderful team.