A new beginning

I’ve been thinking.

I don’t know if you know, but I’m Swedish. I moved to Australia five years ago, mainly because I had to get away from a lot of things, a career that was going nowhere, a personal life in ruins and a winter that was eating away at my soul.

So I ran.

I sold everything and moved to Australia. I’d been a copywriter for five years and I figured I’d try my luck in a new country, in a new language. I lived a whirlwind life in both Sydney and Melbourne and I met Jacqui, my partner and everything, the mother of my two boys. But before that happened I started a personal blog. My father was a writer, but for some reason, or maybe because of that, I had never written anything personal in my life. I had been writing copy and tv commercials for years, but not a single word from within. I started my Swedish blog in 2005, I wrote about the weirdness of my life, about living in a new country and a lot of other stuff. For some reason people liked what I had to say. Soon I had an audience. People kept coming back, asking me for more. It was a very strange experience. There I was on the other side of the world writing a blog about nothing and people loved it. In 2006 my blog was voted the most popular blog in Sweden at a gala in Stockholm. I couldn’t attend.

Fast forward a couple of years.

Jacqui and I was sick of the life we were living. Sick of working in advertising, sick of a lot of things. We decided to move to Brisbane, the city where Jacqui grew up. I got a good offer to work for an advertising agency up here and I decided to have a last crack. We had just started our photography business and weren’t expecting to be able to live from it for a while.

Boy was I wrong.

Like any good photographer I had a website with my portfolio and an about me section and other stuff. I looked at that section and couldn’t get my head around it. You can’t tell people who you are in a paragraph on a page. Or I can’t. After a while I decided to start this blog. It was still a business blog, a shop front for our photography business. I posted the weddings I shot, added some shots of my family now and then and that was that. On the side I still wrote my personal blog in Swedish.

I’ve been debating what to do. I found that I wrote less and less on both blogs. After a while I realized why. This is my life now. I am a photographer. I shoot weddings. Jacqui and I work together and most of what we do have something to do with this business. Keeping the two blogs separate doesn’t make any sense any more.

2010 is going to be a very busy year. I’ll be working all year shooting weddings all around Australia and the world. I don’t know if this is commercial suicide, I have heard other photographers say you shouldn’t mix personal stuff with job stuff, brides don’t like this, brides don’t like that.

I’ve decided to ignore all the advise. From now on this is going to be my personal blog. I will still post my weddings, but also share all the other aspects of my life. I’m sure some people won’t like reading about why my tomato soup recipe rules the world, but this is who I am.

I tell stories.

Mine and others.

I am a wedding photographer, but from now on you will get the backstage pass – access all areas.

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  1. I agree. Sometimes you have to focus not so much on making you blog about business only. I just have to make this move now.

  2. I am completly mesmerised by your photography its just so FANTASTIC! am just starting to get back into wedding photography and am feeling a bit nervous your website was just the medicine i needed. Love your attitiude! I am soooooooo Inspired!
    Thanks heaps.

  3. “I’ve decided to ignore all the advise. From now on this is going to be my personal blog. I will still post my weddings, but also share all the other aspects of my life. I’m sure some people won’t like reading about why my tomato soup recipe rules the world, but this is who I am.
    I tell stories.
    Mine and others.”

    Chord majorly struck.

  4. You don’t come any other way Jonas. Good on you for being true to yourself mate. People see that and it speaks to them well beyond what is considered the norm! Thanks for letting us see a little more of who you are.

  5. Jonas, I can’t even remember how I happened on your blog but I look at it several times per week. It inspires me, it fascinates me. You are so unbelievably talented, and your art is uplifting to me. I have always wished I could take photographs like these but I just don’t seem to have an eye for it. Thank you for being, well, awesome.
    Megan
    Huntington Beach, CA

  6. Boy, this post speaks to me. I have a personal blog that I have been writing on for a couple years, although the last few months I have barely updated it. I started my photography business this year, put together my website, started a photo blog where I really only wrote about clients and sneak peaks.

    I have really been feeling that I should dump the personal blog and write more personal information on my photo blog. For one, it would make my life easier. But the other reason is that I think people and clients really like to see the photographer’s personality within their blog. I always love the photogs who really make their blog personal and you feel that you really know them.

    Good luck!!!!

  7. I’m not a bride anymore, but I’d love to hear about your tomato soup recipe.

    And really, back when I was trying to choose a photographer for my wedding… I’d have killed for the kind of transparency some photographers are into now. You spend all day with this person, with their camera in your face, and I think a big part of my choice was that I liked the guy. We got along, our sense of humor was similar. And yeah, of course, I liked his photos. I liked other people’s photos, too. So maybe brides will be more interesting in the personal bits than you’d think.

  8. I say bravo. My favorite photographers are the ones who are authentic. Who don’t feel a need to compartmentalize their personal life and life as an artist– because like you said, their craft is very much a part of who they are.

    The quality of your work speaks for itself, and people will see that on your blog either way.

  9. Yes, you do the right thing!
    I’m in the same process in life, when I see the need to integrate all aspects of my self. To be me in all areas of life, mind, work and friends. There is no room to be a split person in a full life.

    I wish you well! You are a great photographer that inspires me alot and 2010 is going to be my year of writing and photography.
    Hopefully it will work out just as well as yours seem to!

  10. Klokt Jonas! Tror det kommer slå stort, att vara sig själv och skriva från hjärtat.. Jag gör det och det är befriande många gånger! Allt gott!

  11. The real upshot is that now we won’t be able to understand half of your commenters. Where’s that Swedish-English dictionary…

  12. My personal life and my “designer” life always mingle. They are never separate, and I’m sure the same goes for you.

    I love reading your blog and looking at your work. Keep it up!

  13. Kommer du ta bort de negativa kommentarerna nu också? Skall allt vara guld och gröna skogar även nu när du mixar in det personliga?

  14. I can’t wait. One of the things I love most about my favourite photographers is that they share fragments of their lives on their blogs too. I’m looking forward to reading and seeing more.

  15. Lovely!
    I was afraid that you weren’t gonna write no more. I love your pictures and I love your way of writing, it doesn’t matter if it is about your tomato soup recipe :) I, and a lot with me, wants to read it all..
    Thanks for inspiring and sharing with the world! //Lina

  16. Hej Jonas-har sedan några månader tillbaka funnit din svenska blogg och nu också sett denna. Vilka fantastiska bilder o justa idéer! Så härligt att du har tagit steget o vågat satsa-jag som många andra funderar o drömmer o så stannar det vid det, tyvärr. Mitt drömresemål sedan 7 års ålder är just Australien och kommer jag dit så småningom och dessutom får med mig en brudgum-då kommer jag kontakta dig-alla gånger :-) Fortsatt lycka till !/Susanne

  17. Jag har följt dig på denna sida i kanske ett halvår och ser alltid fram emot dina bilder. Helt fantastiska! Du inspirerar verkligen. Jag har däremot aldrig läst din svenska blogg. Har nog inte fattat att det fanns någon. Jag ser definitivt fram emot tomatsopperecept och annat viktigt :-) Lycka till! Och grattis till livsdrömmen!

  18. It’s funny. I read this blog for quite a while and I never totally saw it as a professional blog. Something about your being always stood out tremendously on your work and on your words. I’m happy you’ll be making that shift, thought. And I wish you and your family the best.

    Joana from Portugal

  19. Love the idea, mostly because that’s how I blog too… I’m more than just a photographer that you can book. I take photos of my life.
    I’ll be around… definitely going to keep you in my reader!

  20. Tack för ett otroligt inspirerande inlägg! Precis den lilla knuff jag behövde just nu! Och nej… jag tror inte att det är ett dåligt beslut att bli mer personlig i bloggen, men däremot kan det vara så att du får ännu fler bokningar 2010! :)

  21. Completely brilliant. People book us because they like US. This will only help your clients in the long run.

    Are you migrating the whole old blog into this site?

  22. A good decision Jonas. I don’t really care whether you write here or threre, in swedish or in english. I will still come back to look at your awesome photgraphs and read your brilliant words.

  23. sounds exciting and intriguing. I’m expectant for what’s to come. :) I love your blog, personal and photo alike.
    beautiful.

  24. It’s bold to bring that level of authenticity to your audience. I really believe it’s a good move. I think it will bring a greater relatedness to you and your clients.

  25. i think what you’re doing is the BEST idea. i am a photographer, and i have a blog, and i write about everything including my wedding jobs, and i don’t care. i figure, as long as i’m not confessing murder, i shouldn’t get in to too much trouble. :)

    i love your work. pure and simple.

  26. I mixed my personal blog and my photography blog early on this year. It was the best decision I’ve made, both for my business and for myself.

    So I say go for it. I’ll be looking forward to reading more from you.

  27. Man Jonas…your life is quite inspiring. While I don’t think I’m at the point where I’m totally sick of my advertising career, it does become harder and harder to “keep on trucking”. One day, when my photography is good enough, I’ll have to revisit this page for inspiration and courage, to just give it all up and start a new leaf.

    I’m of the opinion that what I’ve learned in advertising and marketing would be helpful should that day ever come. Have you found that to be the case?

  28. I really think mixing personal with business is a good thing. I have working on that too recently. Before, I just added photos with a sentence or two. Now I talk about me and my life, what is going on and then put the photos up. I am hoping that it helps people get to know me and feel like they can relate. I HOPE! :)

  29. Thanks for the post. Looking forward to more. Next year will be the first year I make this jump feet first into this business, and I’m excited, and nervous all at the same time. Im in much of the same place, miserable in the field Im in, and want to do what i love. Heres to hoping. :)

  30. Your writing is so refreshing. Few people really blog about their lives, it seems. My boyfriend is named Jonas and he is very proud of his Swedish heritage. We have fun looking at pictures of your darling sons. I’m so happy to have discovered your work & look forward to the promised personal touches. :) Take care!

  31. Love It – All you will Do is attract more positive readers and fans of ur work & blog. Go Get em Tiger

  32. I liked your old commuting posts with music. I’ve always appreciated your candid confessions of being a wedding photographer. I look forward to more personal work/reflections from you. Godspeed.

  33. I think you are making the right decision. It feels right, then it is. Brides love to feel like they ‘know’ their photographer, what better way than your blog.They get to know more about you, and your portfolio-Perfect

  34. Jonas, I’ve been following your work for a while and seen it develop and mature into what you have now. This profession is always evolving and I too have yet to fully commit to the statement “I am a wedding photographer”. I’m a few years behind in my evolution but there’s plenty of time for it to develop. Keep it up mate, you’re an inspiration.

  35. Very nice move, Jonas, althougn I will miss your swedish texts. I’m sure you will be brilliant writing here too, in your new country, new language and new life

    I’m looking forward to reading the stories

    Thanks for the backstage pass!

    /k

  36. So inspiring. Love to know its story, and love to see your works those passionate. You are inspiring for my style in photography!
    Thanks for the privilege to know this story behind the stage…:-)

  37. Brilliant Jonas! Your (and Jacs) journey has been very inspiring to witness over the past 12 months. New town, new baby, new AND successful business, doing what you love with the people you love. Hmm. Proof of what can happen once you are brave enough to follow your dreams? I like to think so. Big love xxxx

  38. thank you for choosing to share with us …
    i look forward to reading and getting to know you more about you…
    you are a special soul Jonas….

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