Mikael Jansson

It is the excruciating boredom that lead me to internet surfing. With internet surfing, I’m talking about viewing portfolios of photographers around the WWW. Fortunately, today, I discovered a photographer named Mikael Jansson. I saw his photos featured in the STATUS magazine and I got intrigued of his mostly black and white photographs.

Since I was young, I am fascinated with black-and-white photography. I love looking at my parents and grandparents’ black-and-white photos. For me, the black-and-white scheme is so to remove the other colors – the distractions – to show the real story behind the photo. Sometimes we have to remove the unnecessaries to be able to see.

As an aspiring photographer, I mostly prefer the black-and-white scheme for my subjects. One of them even won me a Kindle from a photography contest I joined held by the Instituto Cervantes de Manila. Here’s an article that featured my photo. Not bad, huh?

Anyway, as I was saying, you should check out Mikael Jansson’s online portfolio. It captures not only the moment’s serenity, but the melancholy of his subjects as well. Some might say that this is boring stuff viewing another person’s photos when you can look at Vogue, or Status, or Garage even. But, I’m telling you, you just need to try.

My interests in photography are much about

people and emotions and if there is a bit of melancholy added it will make my day.

I also have a big interest in documentary work,

I love to tell a story in my photos and

I enjoy being served a great story in photos,

I can sit for a long time just imagining the set around the photos and the people in it. (Mikael Jansson)

I also tend to be impatient at times, so what I do is, I try to make-up stories of everything that catches my eyes. This is also one of my tricks whenever I go photo-walking and I am so tired from walking all day. I will try to keep ideas flowing despite of my weakening body, just to get the shot, and to not miss any moment.

What should you do if your spirit is willing yet your body is weak? Try imagining the stories of the people in the photographs. Ask yourself, why is that kid laughing? Why does that man’s eyes look sad? Why is that girl standing behind those bars? Try to solve the mystery behind every photograph and I’m telling you, you’ll have a wonderful time just looking at them. And, you’ll be able to develop your imagination.

Cliche as it may seem, this keeps my creative juices streaming in my lazy bloodstream.