Simon Johansson is a Swedish photographer. He’s perhaps not that well known, but he’s one of my favorite photographers.
Much of Simon Johansson’s documentary work is black and white, rather gritty and high contrast, just as I like it.
Look at “No mans land”, for example.
There’s an intimacy in his photos, often with a touch of humor. And he obviously has an eye for composition and a sense of when to take a photo.
He seems to shoot with a digital camera (Fujifilm X-Pro2 in 2021), although he likes the look of classic black and white analog photography, often done with Kodak Tri-X. He even says he’s never done any analog photography, even though he likes the look of it.
As he says, “he hates to miss a picture”, so the camera is always on and always around his neck.
Black and white he likes because it is both “beautiful and timeless”. He adds that black and white is fascinating because it doesn’t really reflect the world as it is, because black and white doesn’t really exist. That’s an interesting aspect I’ve never thought about.
He echoes the advice of many other photographers: get close! And when you think you’re close enough, take another step.
