I remember the first time I saw a Joakim Karlsson photo. It was on Instagram, back when I had just started photographing models myself. I was still figuring things out—playing with lighting, testing different styles, seeing what worked and what didn’t.

And then I saw his work.

It was different from what I was used to. Clean. Elegant. Simple, but in a way that felt rich, not empty. The women in his photos weren’t over-posed, overly edited, or trying too hard to be sexy. They just were. The lighting was soft but intentional. The compositions were precise but never rigid. There was a balance to it all.

I wanted to take photos like that. So, I followed him. And I kept following him. For years.

Fast forward to now, and I’m sitting on a call with Joakim Karlsson, talking about photography, social media, workshops, and how a guy who never really planned on becoming famous somehow ended up with one of the most recognizable styles in the industry.

And during that conversation, I realized something: I’ll never take photos like Joakim Karlsson. And that’s perfectly fine.

Joakim Karlsson: The Man Behind the Click

Joakim is one of those photographers who lets his work speak for itself. He’s not the kind of person constantly posting behind-the-scenes videos, giving long-winded explanations about his process, or writing threads about photography on Twitter. He doesn’t need to. His images say everything for him.

I started the conversation by asking him what it is that makes his photos so special and recognizable. He replied promptly by talking about one of his most popular images on social media—a black-and-white film photo of a model simply looking into the lens. No grand concept, no elaborate setup. Just a quiet moment.

"I started thinking—why is this photo special? Why isn’t everyone making this photo?" he said. "If it’s just a click, why can’t anyone do it? But that’s the thing. What makes a photo isn’t the click. It’s everything before the click. How you talk to the model, the chemistry, the atmosphere in the room. That’s what makes a photo.”

That hit me.

Because it’s something I’ve felt myself, even if I hadn’t put it into words before. The best photos don’t just happen—they’re the result of everything leading up to that one perfect moment.

‘Just Keep Posting’

One of the funny things about Joakim is that, despite having a huge following, he never set out to be "big" on social media.

"I didn’t really understand Instagram at first," he admitted. "It was boring. My first post was just a photo of my camera. Then a selfie. Then some behind-the-scenes shots with a terrible filter. And I thought… what is this for?"

But then he noticed another photographer from his city growing fast on Instagram. Curious, he asked how he was doing it.

"He told me, ‘Just keep posting,’" Joakim said. "And I thought, ‘That’s bullshit.’"

But he tried it anyway. And, surprisingly, it worked.

"You post, and you get a few likes. Then one day, you get a comment from someone you don’t know. Then two years later, I had 30,000 followers."

And then came the viral moments. One good shoot, one well-timed post, and suddenly, thousands of new followers appeared overnight.

Leaving the 9-to-5 Behind

Joakim never planned on becoming a full-time photographer. If anything, he was forced into it.

Years ago, he had a regular job—stable, predictable, and completely unwilling to let him take three days off for a photoshoot. So, he ‘got sick’ instead. And, as you can imagine, that only worked for so long before his coworkers started putting the pieces together.

"They didn’t know exactly what I was doing, but they knew I was into photography," he told me. "And I realized, okay, this isn’t working anymore."

For a while, he tried balancing both worlds—working part-time in his day job while building his photography career on the side. But then came the ultimatum: We need you full-time now.

So, he had a choice. Stay in the safe, predictable world of a steady paycheck? Or quit and go all in on photography? He quit.

"Super scary," he admitted. "I was just like, fuck, I hope I’m making the right choice."

Looking back, of course, it was the best decision he ever made. But in the moment? It was a leap into the unknown. And like every creative path, it came with its ups and downs.

But here’s the thing—when you’re backed into a corner, sometimes that’s when you finally go for it.

Workshops and Imposter Syndrome

For someone who never planned on making money from photography, Joakim has managed to do just that—on his own terms.

His introduction to workshops was almost accidental. A model from Poland suggested the idea, and the lightbulb went off: Wait… I can teach, shoot, and get paid? Not a bad gig.

“At first, I had no idea what a workshop even was,” he recalls. “She explained, and I thought, ‘That sounds interesting.’ I started doing it, and it was great. I could bring in models I wanted to shoot, make money, and still do what I love.”

Of course, with teaching comes a new set of challenges—like imposter syndrome.

“You have those days where you look at your own work and think… ‘How did I get away with this?’” he admits, laughing.

But the truth is, they’re not just paying for technical knowledge.

“I’ve had guys come to my workshops for ten years straight. Not because they don’t know how to take photos, but because they like how I do it,” he says. “They trust my eye, my way of working. And they know they’ll get something different here than anywhere else.”

Why Gear Doesn’t Matter (But Taste Does)

Every beginner photographer has the same excuse: I don’t have the right camera. I don’t have the right lens. I need better lighting.

Joakim calls bullshit.

"I used to think I needed lights and reflectors," he told me. "Then I started traveling. And I realized—if I need an assistant and a huge setup, I’m not going to make it. So I forced myself to work with what I had—just me, a model, and natural light."

The result? A signature style that feels effortless.

"Sometimes, at workshops, I’ll shoot over a participant’s shoulder—same model, same moment, same camera settings. And yet, my photo looks completely different from theirs," he explained. "It’s not about the camera. It’s about you—how you see, how you direct, how you feel the light."

Then he said something that really stuck with me:

"You can take the same photo in two ways—one is elegant, the other is vulgar. The difference? Taste."

And he’s right. That’s something no camera setting or piece of gear will ever give you. And that’s exactly what makes his photos stand out. The subtlety. The restraint. The ability to capture a woman’s beauty without over-explaining it.

Feeling Judged for Photographing Nude Women (and about Dating Those Nude Women)

Joakim Karlsson knows what it’s like to be judged. If you’re a male photographer who shoots nude women, people are going to have opinions—whether they understand what you do or not. And in Sweden, where political correctness is practically a national sport, those opinions are even louder.

"I think Sweden is worse than other countries," he told me. "It’s very politically correct. I know Germany is more open, probably Spain too. But here, I think people are even afraid to go to a workshop because they’re worried about what others might think."

And that judgment doesn’t always come in the form of direct criticism. Sometimes, it’s just a feeling—this nagging doubt in the back of your mind. How do people see me? Do they think I’m just doing this to be around women? It creeps in. But then, he says, there’s another voice—the one that says, Fuck it. I love what I do, and I don’t care what anyone thinks. That’s the voice he listens to.

But if judgment from strangers is one thing, relationships are another. His first long-term girlfriend? They met on a shoot. One session, then another, and suddenly, they were together—for nine years.

"We shot together all the time," he told me. "And honestly, living with a model? That teaches you a lot."

But over time, she lost interest in photography. And that’s when the outside voices started creeping in.

"She was fine with my work. She understood it. But then her friends started saying, ‘How can you let him do this?’ And suddenly, it became a problem."

It wasn’t the last time that happened. It’s never him and his partner that have the issue—it’s the people around them. And once that pressure starts creeping in, it’s only a matter of time.

Then came another relationship. And this one changed everything.

If you’ve followed Joakim for a while, you probably know very well who I’m talking about. A stunning Instagram model who became a central figure in his photos. During their three years together, her account exploded—growing from 100,000 followers to 800,000. And his own following jumped from 30,000 to 200,000.

"We did it together," he said. "That’s something a lot of people don’t understand, but I know it when I see it. When I look at certain models who always have perfect photos, perfect videos, I know there’s someone behind the scenes making it happen. Because that’s how it works."

And he’s right. Viral success doesn’t just happen. There’s always someone pressing the shutter, setting up the light, creating the moment. Joakim and his ex were that team. And for a while, it worked.

But no matter how much success they built together, one thing remained the same—when you’re a photographer, the outside world always has something to say. It’s up to you whether to let it bother you or not.

Why Photography?

After all these years, after thousands of shoots, after traveling all over the world, I asked him one last question at the end of our conversation: What do you love about photography? His answer was rather surprising.

“I used to play music as a teenager, but I realized I depended on others.” He said. “People kept dropping out of the band, you had to find a time which worked for everyone to get together to play. With photography, I could create on my own. It gave me complete control over my creative output. That independence is what made me fall in love with it.”

things to remember

Talking to Joakim made me think a lot about my own photography and what actually matters. If I had to sum up the biggest lessons, it would be these:

1. The photo is made before the click.

It’s not about pressing the shutter—it’s about everything that leads up to it. The connection with the model, the light, the atmosphere, the moment. That’s the difference between a good photo and a forgettable one.

2. Sometimes, You Have to Be Pushed to Take the Leap

Sometimes, we don’t make the leap until we’re forced to. We wait for the perfect timing, the perfect circumstances, but that moment never comes. Then, one day, we’re put in a position where we have to choose. Joakim was forced to choose between photography and his regular job and had to make a decision. It was scary, but in his mind, there was only one right decision. He left his boring day job, went all-in on photography and never looked back!

3. People Will Judge You—And That’s Not Your Problem

If you’re a male photographer shooting nude women, people are going to make assumptions. It doesn’t matter how professional you are, how much artistic integrity you have, or how many models swear by your work—some people will always think you’re just doing it for the girls. Joakim learned that you can’t control what people think. But you can control how much you let it affect you. And at the end of the day, the only people who truly understand are the ones who are in it. The models. The photographers. The artists. Everyone else? They’re just guessing.

So, will I ever take photos like Joakim Karlsson? No. And that’s okay.

Because I’ll take photos like me.

And you’ll take photos like you.