Jonas Hornehøj is a 25 years old lifestyle and travel photographer hailing from Denmark. Not that long ago he was a barman working in his home city, Copenhagen.
Eventually he completed an internship as an F&B Manager Assistant in Thailand and the travel bug got him good. He realized there was not anything holding him back, so he decided to travel the world and create visual content for a living. He said, “When I set off, I honestly didn’t expect to keep going as long as I have. Of course, I hoped I would. But it seemed unlikely, I had just seen so many Instagram accounts doing it so I thought: “If they can, so can I.” I spent every day going to new places, focusing on my photography skills, as well as editing skills and of course networking!” And the hard work paid off!
Today Jonas is a full time content creator and his first trip to Bali had a significant role in this regard. As he pointed out: “Bali has been the place where I found and felt most inspired. Heading to Bali is what led me to start making money from doing what I love, and make me realize that you can make money doing anything, as long as you work hard, beat on your craft, and keep pushing through!” Along the journey he has been able to come up with his own editing style. For Jonas, it is all about telling stories.
He said, “I think the thing that has helped me in trying to stand out in this massive crowd of travel photographers, is that from the very beginning my aim was always to keep telling stories, sharing emotions, and making sure that I was real with the people who followed me in including them in all travels.” The list of tips that Jonas shared with us goes on and on!
Welcome Jonas! A pleasure to welcome you to our community! We have been following your work for a while now. Taking a look to your Instagram feed one may think that you are constantly on the road! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, what do you do for a living, and what a normal day in your life looks like?
Thanks guys! It’s great to be in touch with you! My name is Jonas Hornehøj and I am 25 years old and originally from the Capital Region of Denmark. Shortly after turning 1, my family moved to Holland for my parents’ work, and therefore I attended international schools since the very beginning of my educational background. This meant that I met people from all over the world, so I was always curious about different countries and cultures. I continued the international schooling after moving back to Denmark at 14, and when I was finished with all of my studies in summer of 2017, I had just sort of had enough of the routines and didn’t picture myself in an even tighter routine working life, so I decided to travel!
When I set off, I honestly didn’t expect to keep going as long as I have. Of course, I hoped I would. But it seemed unlikely, I had just seen so many Instagram accounts doing it so I thought: “If they can, so can I.” I spent every day going to new places, focusing on my photography skills, as well as editing skills and of course networking! So now I am a “content creator” for a living – sounds cheesy I know, but that is what I do. I create content for whoever needs it, and am in turn paid for my services in doing so, whether that is promotional content pushed through my own channel (@thefreedomcomplex) or private clients or companies. My work is always based on content.
As of late my days have been very different than what I would call my normal day haha. Lately it has been a lot of days onsite working (filming and photographing) and following up with clients and building relations with said clients, and not as much time to edit or create for myself. It has been very hectic lately! A lot of short trips to destinations (3-5 day trips) and some longer ones, like my recent two week trip to South Africa. Being in Europe has been beneficial for my business but it has made it harder for me to focus on my own creations due to a lack of time! I will soon be heading back to Asia where it all started for me, where I hope to get back to more regular routines which included: 3-5 am wake up calls for sunrise shoot, back at 11 for brunch and 6-7 hours of work (emails, content processing, etc) before heading out for a sunset shoot or just enjoying the sunset, and then sharing work on Instagram at 8-9pm followed by a an hour of activity on the platform.
You have been sharing amazing moments along the past years. I guess that being constantly traveling enables you to create visual content on a regular basis. What do you like the most about your current lifestyle? Could you define your lifestyle with one word?
Honestly, as of late, the one word I use to describe my lifestyle is always “hectic” or “busybusybusy” haha. What I like most is that I never know what tomorrow holds, everything depends on weather, clients, opportunities, logistics, etc.
I love the uncertainty of it all, which I know is something most people would hate, but I love it because with a rational mindset, you can always tell yourself “what is the worst thing that could possibly happen” to which the answer is: I go back home and find a “regular” job.
Of course, the fact that I take photos and videos everywhere I go, I have endless memories on my phone and in my database of content, which is an incredible thing to have!
Being surrounded by the wild can be certainly a plus when it comes to find inspiration or be more creative for instance. Among all the places you have visited, where did you feel more inspired shooting and why?
As cliché as it may sound or appear, Bali has been the place where I found and felt most inspired. It was the location for me that represents the turning point in my career.
Heading to Bali is what led me to start making money from doing what I love, and make me realize that you can make money doing anything, as long as you work hard, beat on your craft, and keep pushing through!
For shooting purposes, Bali was also the place I developed the most I think, simply because so many locations in Bali were overshot, so I forced myself to try to find new angles for all the hotspots I went to. It didn’t always work out, but it made me think a lot more technically with my shooting and focus on framing of images a lot, which is now one of my favorite things about photography.
I guess that you mainly shoot on sunrises and sunsets. Lighting plays a major role in photography. But, for you, what is the most important thing when it comes to create a visual story?
With different types of lighting you can create any mood or feeling. Color grading (especially for video) is the next thing, sometimes even more so than lighting – but lighting is the one that most people pick up on the first. Then of course framing and in certain cases the settings used to capture an image can play a big role, but not always!
For me lighting is definitely the most important, and if you look at my feed, almost all the photos I have posted will have ended on my feed because of the light conditions in the shot. Sometimes I have visited insane locations where the lighting was awful, where I still posted from there, but typically that means that I only had one day to visit! Normally, if there is a location I want to shoot, I will keep going back until I am completely happy with the light!
Also, one of the things that quickly called my attention are the unique compositions of your photographs. I truly think that you are sharing different and yet inspiring perspectives from all these well-known places. Can you please give us an insight in this regard? What allows you to find those special compositions?
Well that all comes down to the forced learning once again! I truly believe that you can only get better if you put yourself in a situation where you need to improve to stay relevant if that makes sense? Basically, the same reason I started traveling, I got out of my comfort zone to improve as a person.
When shooting at popular locations in Bali, I tried to break my comfort zone of shooting the frames that I know have been done before and would do well on social media, and instead shoot new angles that I hadn’t seen before. This would often make the shooting process lengthier, but it tended to pay off!
You are creating art with a defined style. In my opinion you are a great visual story teller, especially when it comes to convey emotions such as freedom or wanderlust for instance. In your opinion, what three strategies have allowed you to grow more as an artist and reach your current level?
I think the thing that has helped me in trying to stand out in this massive crowd of travel photographers, is that from the very beginning my aim was always to keep telling stories, sharing emotions, and making sure that I was real with the people who followed me in including them in all travels.
I would always try to use my feed as the means of attracting the audience, and then unlike many others, I write a long caption about how I felt about the shot, the location, or even something that has happened recently or other ways of tying together relatable activities to the imagery.
I know I have become a better person because of it, and everyone I have met who has traveled a lot seems to be more open minded and have a different more forward-thinking outlook to both plant and animal conservation, as well as generally just seeming more content with themselves.
This is of course a major generalization, and I’m not in any way trying to say if you haven’t traveled you aren’t happy with yourself, and don’t know anything about conservation. However, you are exposed to more of these issues when traveling around as you see how things influence different areas, that we might not always realize “back home.” I’m sidetracking now haha, but I think that if I had to narrow it down to 3 things it would be:
1) My mindset as a person and spreading positive storytelling through visual work and captions.
2) My consistent and personal editing style.
3) The framing of photos.
What are the three most valuable lessons you have learned traveling?
1) Money is a tool, not a token for happiness
2) You don’t need a lot of material goods to be happy at all, just enough to survive honestly
3) Anything is possible with the right mindset
Is there any artist/photographer who has inspired your art? Can you name three?
I have always found myself more inspired by mindset and personality and work ethic as opposed to just the creative output. With this in mind, I think the people who have inspired me to be a better version of myself are the ones who have ultimately inspired my art.
Julius Kahkonen (@visualsofjulius)
He is my number one inspiration, without a doubt. Julius is a good friend of mine, who I was lucky enough to meet in Thailand in 2018 for the lantern festival. This guy is so young, and so accomplished, and SO hungry and driven. It’s insane! Being in his presence even just for a week made me feel even more goal oriented and made me want to work harder!
Sam Kolder (@samkolder)
This guy is an inspiration to me because of what he has done, which is something that I have always kept in my sights as an end goal. He has created a brand around himself, his name and his work style and quality, that people now pay/work with literally just for association. Most companies with content needs would love to work with Sam Kolder, because in doing so, they know that the exposure that would come from his name and brand being involved alone, would benefit them greatly.
Josiah William Gordon and Sasha Juliard (@josiahwg & @sashajuliard)
These guys are both friends of mine, and inspire me equally in different yet very similar ways. Not to say that I know everything about them or that we have hung out hundreds of times, but I have spent a fair amount of time with each of them, enough to have a personal opinion about them which I can then compare to their “social status” if you will. They both have a super admirable lifestyle in my opinion, very different but both equally admirable. They are both true photographers in my opinion. At the moment there are so many people who call themselves photographers just because they bought expensive gear and have an Instagram account. These guys have such an incredibly curated and talented eye for good photography that it scares me. When seeing them shoot, it is so obvious the passion that is behind it, and they are also both very talented portrait photographers, and each have a clean yet unique editing style.
Any new projects coming up or countries you will be visiting soon?
Always projects in the making, but I am heading to Malta on Friday (in 4 days) which is a destination I have never been to. Also going to Nice in France which I only saw for a few days many years ago (never with a camera), and then off to Hungary and Austria too which are also places I’ve never really seen properly. All before heading to Indonesia in mid-August and then it won’t be long before I head to Australia for the first time ever too! Always so many things in the pipeline, which is another reason why I love this lifestyle, literally always things to look forward to.
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