Manifesto, schmanifesto.

I’ve said that least 3335442 times. SKC was here…

[Off-topic, kind of…] The fact that you’re posting a wedding film (and by that promote the other fellow photograper’s work, ‘the competition’) it’s a beautiful thing to do. That says a lot about your passion… :) Cheers!

Ooops I don’t mean that couples who read wedding blogs are not real or are not really in love….I meant that the ones that don’t read them do concentrate on the love between them more as they are not so caught up in the details they are being told they have to have. Hope that makes sense. A writer I am not…lol

Beautiful

I loved your Manifesto. Why anyone would get upset about it is somewhat strange. You were not attacking anyone personally only stating what you see happening. I think the thing to remember is that the meaning behind the details for each wedding can mean absolutely different things to each couple…or they could mean nothing at all and just be “stuff”. I am sure it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of the wedding details with all of the blogs and ideas out there, they are completely visually stimulating to the point were it become like crack…HAVE to see what is on so and so’s blog today!!! I know for my husband and I the details we wanted to include were those that projected our personalities and love. Before being engaged our favorite thing to do on Saturday morning was to go to the local coffee shop, grab a dirty chai and head over to the antique mall. We would spend all day walking around looking for that one treasure we both loved and could see hanging in our home for years to come…or we would buy nothing at all and just make fun of the crap there that we couldn’t imagine anyone buying (the porcelain eagle wearing a top hat cast in resin with a dried flower frame..hey to each their own). When it came time for our wedding we did the same thing. Slowly collecting things that we would incorporate into our wedding and then into our home. Our bakers cabinet we used for desserts at the wedding now sits in our dining room, our random vintage silverware we collected we now use at dinner, the metal letters that spelled out love on our sign in table are now up on the wall in our bedroom, and the reclaimed wood fireplace ceremony backdrop that my husband and father-in-law built is now the focal point in our
living-room…and seeing all of it takes me back to the day I married my best friend and fills me with joy. Our wedding definitely had details but they were all with a purpose and
finding/making/planning them together was just plain fun and even brought us closer together. When the wedding day came it was all about love…that’s all we felt all day. We felt love from our families, love from our friends, and love from each other :) Thank you for using our wedding video to highlight your point and for calling it beautiful…we think it is too. I am also a wedding photographer and have admired your work and followed your blog for quite a while..what a surprise to find my wedding video on here :) Thank you.
~Jess and Scott

(@Collins, I wouldn’t say calling Scott my best friend is a cliche…I would call it the simple truth)

Well, yes, the details – what few there are – seem genuine, but the cliches are all lined up like ducks. Everything from her “You’re my best friend,” to the way this video was shot is so done before and by the book. And the out of focus to in focus trick they keep leaning on gets so tired about 10 seconds in but they keep doing it over and over and over…. sorry, Jonas this doesn’t quite match your unique skills and I’m not sure why you would show it here?

this is phenomenal on every single level.
you know there will always be those who interpret things differently/have different opinions. it is what makes the world go round. really, no worries…just keep doing what drives you and you feel is genuine. those who wanted to understand what your words meant, got it. those who didn’t…well. perhaps they should read it again.

Love this couple, loved the video, loved your manifesto, love your photos…All you need is love!

I’m glad you wrote it. I certainly knew what you meant and wanted to share it with others. What a gorgeous video, there are such clever people in the industry and you are certainly one of them :-)

I think it’s time that wedding photographers take a very big step back (at least 3 metres) themselves. Strip it back. Peel off that protective layer of the latest and greatest equipment. Forget about trying to capture the most perfectly composed picture. Forget about trying to be as good as Jonas. Stop thinking about which magazines and blogs you’ll enter your work into before you’ve even shot the wedding. It’s about emotion. It’s about connection – between bride, groom and their loved ones. Not about your blog audience. The image between the hugging trees – the first time I saw that I thought it was, meh… ‘nice’ but MAN that blurry seagull kinda ruined what would otherwise be a perfect composition (totally dipped in tall poppy syndrome). But then I heard the context and fell in love with the image, and understood why the bride cried for hours after seeing it – with emotion. That’s what it’s about…

Too bad people are so close-minded about what you are trying to say. I think I get why you posted this video and used it as the example. It’s a beautiful wedding with the modern/vintage look that people are craving. As such, it has many vintage and retro looking details, but the focus is never on those…it remains on the people. It tells the story of their day, which is what wedding photography is supposed to be about…the story.

sorry for the bad english. :)

Meh, couldn’t even get it up to apologize.

Dagens tårar, så himla fint.

i find it ironic that people take so much time to get upset, defensive, angry about something that is supposed to be such an incredible moment. Who cares what people want to do at their wedding. If they want 500 mason jars or paper cups or filet mignon or pizza, it really doesn’t matter. It’s about the moment, the commitment, the life promises, “in sickness and health”, your new spouse. I’m pleased that you tried to show “the other side”. It’s refreshing and necessary.

I think what people are missing is that it had NOTHING to do with a mason jar. The mason jar was an icon, a symbol. The point was to get back to basics and start to pull the love back to the front and center.

And it’s started a 5 day conversation at SMP that doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. Conversation is good. Even if people misinterpret.

SMP will always feature details because details are ideas. But we are definitely using this to talk about how we can bring more layers to each post, more emotion. So yes, talk is good.

Jonas, I have watched that video you posted above and my god, now i’m a blubbering mess at my desk!… it was beautiful – good work finding it :) Clair Estelle x

It was a pleasure to be the Celebrant for Nick & Claire and the photo’s are wondrous …. absolutely breathtaking.

Donnelle Lockyer CMC; JP

Unfortunately that’s the way of the world – people don’t read things closely and then jump to conclusions all the time! That’s one of the reasons why I was so leery of starting my own blog. I finally did, but I still find myself overthinking every post or every idea for a post. Kudos to you for speaking your mind!

I often think with weddings, simple is better, so I totally understand what you were saying. That video, wedding, and couple were so beautiful! At the end of the day, it is truly about the love. I think some people just want to feel like a celebrity, and if that’s your thing, fine, but then if you go too far, you’re forgetting about why you’re there in the first place.

PS – I love your work. You’re an amazing talent!

Yeah, all the weddings should be like this… if I don’t have the opportunity to shoot weddings like this when I’m behind the camera, at least, at my wedding, when I’ll be in front of the camera, I want to live this :)

Sometimes weddings that I see remind me of Christmas; too much stuff, too much expense and the essense/meaning is lost or hidden. I don’t know maybe people need that stuff they are scared to strip it back. Added to that the wedding business is massive ; commercialised and the advertising etc deams that all that stuff is needed and normal. I photograph weddings and I love my couples, sometimes their are details sometimes not. My role as their photographer is about me connecting to them at times having to facilitate them feel emotion and have a authentic experience giving them permission to feel and creating a space for that to happen. Stay true to who you are and how you do your thing and never lose what is true to you. Stay focused Mr Peterson all will be well.

Personally, nothing kills my enjoyment on a wedding day more than a 5-page document of things to photograph. Not people or moments, but pretty, paper THINGS. I love a detailed wedding as much as any other photographer, but let me photograph how much you love each other-don’t leave me in the barn, photographing paper things.
We know what you were saying, you were clearly understood & you have the right to say it. Especially on your own blog. So thank you for sharing & causing a stir.

I think it’s a shame if some people had trouble understanding your point and became unneccessarily hurt or angry.

But, actually, I think it was a really important argument and it needed to be said. And I wish I’d read it before my wedding! I mean, I did know. I did. But having someone like you who makes such beautiful work saying it meant something extra.

(that couple are adorable)

Prior to our wedding I was so caught up in the details, I was micro-managing every piece of tulle, every flower, every ingredient in the cake. I was a little bit loopy when it came to the preparations for our wedding.
The week leading up to our wedding my (now) husband and I spent the entire week doing exactly what you said “strip it back, peel the layers off and start again”. We reenacted our first date, we had dinners with our families, we wrote each other love notes, we danced in ridiculous places, we told each other our hopes and our dreams for our lives together and not once did we plan/alter/monitor a single “detail” for our wedding day. In that week leading up to our wedding I have never been more relaxed, more in love and more prepared.
The day/night before our wedding we spent the night apart, staying at our parents houses with all our siblings and truly embracing our last moments alone with our families. I played monopoly with my brother, watched doctor who with my sister and had a big roast with my parents and siblings and realised that tomorrow my life will be changed forever.
I truly believe that what makes a wedding beautiful is the details, the decor, the decorations and gees lets be honest the budget. But what makes a marriage beautiful is Love and not just the love between husband and wife (otherwise we should’ve just eloped So much cheaper!) But the love from our families, the love from our friends, the love even from all our vendors that shared in our special day.

people took who took it out of context completely missed the point. that saddens me. just keep doing your thing. if you weren’t right, they wouldn’t be so offended.

The video is loading slow because of the internet of where I am zzzz… But it has stopped just after how Scott is at a loss for words trying to describe how he’s feeling… *heart thumps*

Also… it’s ironic that you’re also releasing this after we receive news of Kim Kardashian’s marriage ending… phew…

Here’s some feedback where you positively affected a fellow artist with your words. I posted a link to your Mason Jar Manifesto on my Facebook page and my sister, Whitney, who is just starting out as a Calligrapher, wrote in response:

“yes. reading this, i felt some sort of relief. like, the pressure to be an uber successful blogger, crafter, calligrapher whom everyone reads about and everyone wants to be best friends with, is not so important. i should just be me and do the best that i can being that.”

For that alone, I thank you. Because I love my sister, and I want her to be happy, and your words made her happy. (On a side note, she just married in July, and the Cana Family were her videographers. We all cried and laughed and cheered when we watched what they had put together at the end of the night. These captured moments are precious, the “things” are not.)

Let people be. Continue being who you are Jonas. The world needs more people who are not afraid to speak their mind and have the experience to back up their words.

Can t wait for those details on your workshop :D

I heard what you were saying, and I agree, but I’m not gonna lie, I saw that coming. Good thing you don’t give a shit :)

I read what you wrote and literally couldn’t stop crying. I am so thankful for what you said, and am so relieved that someone who is making it in this business had the guts and vision to see something wrong and speak up. thank you…

Wow!! That video is SO gorgeous and touching. I love the focus; what a beautiful couple. Great filming also.

Your point came across perfectly to me. I don’t really see how everyone read that much into it. I think it is pretty obvious that you don’t dislike wedding blogs or details.

It’s OK. I hate mason jars, too.