Photo tour in Azores, Portugal
December 3, 2025 No Comments
Join us in the Azores for a unique photo tour, where you’ll elevate your creative skills with expert guidance from Ronald Soethje, Bruno Ázera, and Nomadict.
Johanna Mannerfelt
@johannalejon
Landscape photographer based in Sweden
I am a 23 year old girl living in the university city Uppsala, just outside Stockholm in Sweden. I’ve been into photography on a serious level for about two years now, although so far just as a hobby. I am still studying; I have studied Arabic, since 1.5 years I study Persian and soon I will switch to studies in political science.
So since I don’t have much time, I photograph mostly when I’m traveling. I’ve always been into travel, photography joined later. I remember when I got my first DSLR camera; I used the auto settings and had no energy or interest that time to develop my photography further. Still, the camera was always with me when I traveled. I wanted to document the places I visited and eternalize memories. After a while I felt a desire to make these images more visually appealing, so I started to learn about photography more thoroughly. Nevertheless, continuing developing is something I have a hard time with. Photography is currently just a hobby and I have to prioritize my everyday work. I am busy with other things and I don’t want to force myself to improve my photography.
"Forcing the creativity is not something that works for me, but rather diminishes and reduces my self-confidence and interest."
"Although, when I feel inspired to bring my photography to another level, it’s mainly while I am traveling."
The combination of photography and travel together is my greatest passion in life. It’s the most fun thing to do and I feel at my best when I get to do it. I want to see all the places on earth, though I am mostly drawn to the mountains and the Nordic / polar climate. My recent trips have therefore taken me to the Faroe Islands, Scotland and northern Sweden and also to Norway and Finland for shorter visits. The beauty of these places can’t be captured in a photograph, no matter how good your equipment is!
"Photography is also meditative for me. A way for me to get calm."
Especially with the editing part I easily get into a flow to get the photo just as I want. Photography is very important to me in that regard as it helps me relax. By editing, I try to incorporate the feeling I had into the photo. Personally I can feel it, and I hope others can as well. For me, that is the most important part. I don’t have a specific style to achieve that, because sometimes I can convey those feelings with warm tones, other times with cold ones. I love the cliche quote “there is beauty in simplicity”, because I want my pictures to be just like that. Maybe it is a question whether a powerful landscapes can be classified as simple or not, but with all the complexities that exist today, that we humans have created, I would like to classify it as simple and pure. Honestly I think that an editing style is hard to define or explain, because a ‘style’ is the result of an artistic expression that couldn’t be converted into words.
Through my photos, I also want to show life’s magical little details, putting the everyday things in life in a different perspective. Things we may not see as remarkable. I want to photograph these things and get a beautiful and artistic result so these everyday things become magical instead. Where I give attention to as well, is photographing powerful women. Portraiture is not something I prefer, so I never really prioritized it. But I still like to photograph women to emphasize their own beauty and strength as an individual.
"Personally, photography has helped me to strengthen my self-confidence and self-image."
It has helped me to feel unique and it contributed to finding my identity. I have a very bad patience and therefore find it difficult to finalize things. I am a perfectionist and I have a hard time coping with setbacks since I see it as defeat. Therefore, I give up easily and do not give things the time it needs. But with photography I did. I’ve given it time, I’ve let myself fail, I’ve accepted that I don’t have to be the best. This has really strengthened me. I still lack confidence in my photography and I compare myself to others, but I never let this make me give up anymore and that drive has made me stronger. Therefore, I like to photograph women, to make them feel beautiful, strong and worth it, no matter what they are doing. Although I prefer landscape photography, I can see myself exploring this area more in the future.
I am not so fond of this type of thinking though, planning the future. I know it is a good thing for reflection, but I like the idea of not really knowing what to expect and what’s going to happen. The only thing that is important to me is that I am happy with my life and be surrounded by people I love. Right now photography is just a hobby and and I would prefer to work with something that I’m study for.
"If I get to dream, I would definitely like to see myself working with photography and film someday."
Getting a job as a photographer for a big travel / photo magazines or making documentaries about nature and wildlife is something I could really see myself doing, if my development in photography leads me to the right path. I also recently found a big interest in making audiovisual art. Maybe I would like to discover that more? I simply want to keep all doors open in the future! All I know is no matter what, the camera will be with me anyway.
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