I’m a father and photographer from Sweden. I aim to capture truly enchanting, storytelling photos – all from authentic moments in natural light. Childhood is fleeting and every experience is new and full of wonder. These are the moments that I try to capture and conserve with the help of photography.

Biography

Well my very first camera was a cheap point-and-shoot. Bought specifically to document my trip to the Philippines in January 2011. I did not know much about photography at that time, so my photos weren’t anything amazing obviously, just regular family/traveling photos.

My daughter was born in November 2013 and shortly afterwards is when I began my interest in photography. It also didn’t take long until started processing my photos in Adobe Lightroom. A dear friend and photographer of mine, Christian, had recommended it to me. The first photo that I imported to Lightroom was a photo that was taken with an iPhone at the birth clinic – not ideal conditions as it was a JPEG.

I soon realized that I wanted to get a better camera to capture the precious moments of my daughter. I purchased my first professional camera, a Sony A7 in December 2013 with which I started taking lots and lots of photos with. It wasn’t until summer 2014 that I had time to really study and explore my new hobby. In Sweden, parents are entitled to 480 days of parental leave when a child is born and its not rare for the men to be at home. I was home with parental leave in autumn 2014 and it was during this period that I took most of my photos.

I sold the Sony A7 in Mars 2015 and upgraded to Sony A7 II in June 2015.

Preferences & Equipment

When I’m taking photos I prefer to natural light and my current surroundings. I usually try to position my daughter so that she can interact unchallenged with the world around her while still allowing me to capture the best light for the scene.

All of the lenses I own are manual focus only. My favorite lens is the Samyang 85mm/f1.4 lens because of its superior light sensitivity. I also own a Canon 135mm/f2 lens that I use on my Sony A7 with an adapter. For my few landscape shots, I’m using Samyang 14mm/f2.8.

I try to capture story and magic in my photos. Childhood is fleeting and every experience is full of wonders. I think children have such a great expression because they do not make an effort in their expressions, they are always relaxed and genuine.

Most of my photos are taken in various parks around the city where we live and I enable myself to take photos in very sparse green areas by using a shallow depth of field.

My post-processing is very subtle, I like to keep it real and I prefer not to add things to my photos in post, I do however enhance and refine some details. I love taking my photos when the sun is setting – also known as the Golden Hour. This is a time of the day that allows for a natural warmth that cannot be reproduced easily in post-processing.

Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!

– Niklas Jumlin