by Jerome D.
Introduction
Jonathan Jasberg is a multi-award-winning American street and documentary photographer, living a deliberately nomadic life outside the United States since 2010 — a self-described vagabond photographer who has photographed in over 60 countries and 150+ cities, seeking out destinations that interest him from both a cultural and photographic perspective.
He grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where the proximity of the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona — co-founded by Ansel Adams and home to world-class rotating exhibitions — gave him early exposure to serious photography. He studied filmmaking for four years in high school before pivoting to Computer Science at university, a combination that reflects the dual technical and visual intelligence that defines his practice. He took up photography as a creative outlet after graduation and became a digital nomad in 2010, working in software while pursuing photography in his free time across Japan and the wider region.
At the start of the Covid pandemic he transitioned to photography full-time — a commitment that has since produced one of the most internationally decorated bodies of colour street photography of his generation. His work has won awards from numerous prestigious international competitions, including the exibart street contest Best Single Photo of 2022 and recognition from LensCulture, the Magnum Photography Awards, and multiple other major street photography competitions. He was commissioned for the LFI (Leica Fotografie International) feature on his Cairo series, and his work has been exhibited internationally including at Trieste Photo Days.
He has published his first book, Cairo: A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect, and currently maintains a long-term project in Gion, the traditional Geisha district of Kyoto, combining the historical character of traditional Japan with its contemporary urban reality. He has been a guest speaker for B&H Photo and the Leica Store, and leads group and private bespoke street photography workshops internationally.
His website confirms he shoots exclusively with Leica cameras and is a member of the Xiaomi Global Creators Team.
As he describes his aims: "to create images that we can all smile at and appreciate the shared beauty of life."
Camera Gear Used by Jonathan Jasberg
Jasberg's gear is exceptionally well-documented across multiple primary sources: his own website, the exibart street contest interview (July 2022), the LFI feature on his Cairo series (May 2022), and the Arxipelag interview (February 2025) — the most recent and most comprehensive of all, in which he confirms his current camera and explains the evolution of his kit in his own words. What follows draws only on these confirmed sources.
Film Era Camera: Leica M6 (discontinued)
Leica M6 with 35mm lens — Confirmed as a camera he used alongside the Leica Q2 during an earlier phase of his career, stated in the exibart street contest interview (2022): "I use Leica Q2 (28mm) and occasionally a Leica M6 with a 35mm lens." The Leica M6 is a fully mechanical 35mm rangefinder film camera — widely considered one of the finest Leica M bodies ever produced, with a built-in TTL light meter. Jasberg used it with a 35mm prime lens for situations where he wanted the specific rendering and process of film alongside his digital Q2 practice.
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| Find one at MPB |
He subsequently dropped the M6 entirely. The Arxipelag interview from February 2025 confirms this transition directly, in his own words: "I used to carry an M6 as well, but dealing with film while on the road became too burdensome." For a photographer living a genuinely nomadic life across sixty countries and 150+ cities, the logistics of film — sourcing rolls, protecting exposed film from X-ray damage, finding reliable processing in remote locations — eventually outweighed the aesthetic rewards.
Previous Digital Camera: Leica Q2
Leica Q2 with integrated Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH — His confirmed primary camera for the majority of his internationally recognised work, stated in both the exibart street contest interview (2022) and the LFI feature on his Cairo series (May 2022). The LFI feature confirms explicitly: "Equipment: Leica Q2, Summilux 28 f/1.7 ASPH." His Cairo series — the project that won him the LFI feature and multiple international awards — was shot entirely on the Q2 at 28mm.
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| Leica Q2 Find one at MPB |
The Leica Q2 is a fixed-lens compact full-frame camera with a 47.3-megapixel sensor and a permanently attached Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens. The combination of full-frame resolution, a fast wide-angle prime, a weather-sealed body, and the compact form of a fixed-lens camera made it the ideal tool for Jasberg's nomadic working method: one camera, one focal length, everything in a minimal package that could be carried anywhere without the weight and complexity of an interchangeable lens system.
Current Camera: Leica Q3
Leica Q3 with integrated Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH — His confirmed current camera, stated in his own words in the Arxipelag interview from February 2025: "I currently use a Leica Q3, having previously used a Q2." The Leica Q3 is the updated version of the Q2 — upgrading the sensor to 60 megapixels, adding a rear touchscreen, improving the electronic viewfinder, and enhancing video capabilities, while retaining the same fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH lens and the same weather-sealed compact body format. The upgrade is a refinement rather than a change in working philosophy: the same 28mm focal length, the same fixed-lens minimalism, the same Leica image quality — at 60 rather than 47.3 megapixels.
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| Leica Q3 check price at Amazon |
His own website confirms he shoots exclusively with Leica cameras, and his workshop requirements note specifically: "Unless you're using a Leica, Jonathan may not be familiar with your camera's specific menu system or settings" — a detail that underscores how deeply the Leica system is integrated into his practice.
Mobile: Xiaomi (Leica co-engineered)
Xiaomi 13 Pro and Xiaomi 13 Ultra (Leica co-engineered camera systems) — Confirmed on his own website as part of his membership of the Xiaomi Global Creators Team: "photographs were made by Jonathan using the Xiaomi 13 Pro and Xiaomi 13 Ultra phones equipped with camera systems co-engineered by Leica." He used these phones for assignments in markets of Oaxaca, Mexico; Kolkata, India; Kyoto, Japan; and Kathmandu, Nepal — all published under his Xiaomi Creators Team work. The Leica co-engineering of the Xiaomi camera systems makes this affiliation consistent with his exclusive Leica camera practice.
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| Xiaomi 13 Ultra see latest model at Amazon |
Lens Philosophy
28mm as primary and defining focal length. The Q2 and Q3's fixed 28mm Summilux is not a compromise or a limitation — it is a deliberate choice that Jasberg has articulated with precision. In the exibart street contest interview he was asked: "If you had to choose one lens that you would have to be using for the rest of your life, which one would that be and why?" His answer: "When I made the change of having 'focal length' options by either carrying multiple primes, or a zoom, to having 0 options and only shooting at 28mm, my progression sped up greatly."
The Q2/Q3's 28mm wide angle keeps him close to his subjects — closer than the 35mm preferred by many street photographers — while including enough environmental context to place figures within their surroundings. At f/1.7, the Summilux's wide maximum aperture gives him significant available-light capability for the often dim interiors, shaded alleys, and evening street scenes that define much of his best work.
He has also stated his advice to students: "Pick a single prime lens (whatever focal length interests you) and learn it inside and out." His own practice embodies this exactly — years of exclusive 28mm shooting have produced a visual language built entirely around the specific spatial relationship that focal length creates.
Technique and Style
Jonathan Jasberg's photography is defined by layered colour compositions, exceptional timing, and a commitment to finding beauty in cultural complexity. His images are not of famous landmarks or obvious subjects — they are of the texture of daily life in the cities and neighbourhoods he inhabits, found at the intersection of colour, light, and human gesture.
LensCulture has described his work as combining "an innate understanding of light and a discerning eye for color" to produce "dynamic compositions, often layered, [that] grow even more captivating the longer they are viewed." This quality of sustained attention — images that reward looking — distinguishes his work from the more immediately legible street photography that dominates social media. His compositions build from multiple spatial layers, with foreground elements, middle-ground figures, and background environments working together to produce images that are richer on second and third viewing than on first.
His shooting volume is significant. His workshop requirements state that participants should be prepared to shoot at least 1,000 images per day, and that 20,000+ steps per day is not unusual. This is not spray-and-pray photography — it is the sustained, high-volume engagement with a location that produces a handful of extraordinary images within an enormous quantity of shots. He has described his approach in interviews as combining "an innate understanding of light" with a readiness to photograph constantly, across all conditions and all times of day.
He photographs in colour exclusively, and his colour work is characterised by the vivid but natural rendering of the Leica Q2/Q3's Summilux lens — warm skin tones, accurate environmental colour, and the specific quality of available light in the places he works. He cites Henri Cartier-Bresson's decisive moment as a framework for his practice, but his images extend this tradition into a colour vocabulary that Cartier-Bresson never pursued.
His approach to ethics is explicit: "For myself, ethics are important, and I think it's a good idea for photographers to know what they will and will not shoot ahead of time." He photographs in places that seldom see foreign photographers — markets, residential neighbourhoods, traditional districts — and his ethical clarity about how he wants to portray the people he photographs is part of the trust his work communicates.
He is also strongly committed to the physical printed photograph. In the Arxipelag interview he states: "I believe that the book form and physical prints are the only true ways to experience a photograph." This commitment shapes both how he works and how he presents his work — and distinguishes him from photographers whose primary audience is social media.
How to Imitate His Style in Post-Processing
Jasberg's colour aesthetic — vivid but natural, with the specific rendering character of the Leica Summilux — is grounded in careful exposure and the optical quality of the lens rather than in heavy post-processing. Pixlr is an excellent tool for approaching his look:
Expose for the highlights and let the shadows hold naturally.
His images are well-exposed for the key subject — face, figure, gesture — with shadows allowed to fall naturally rather than being lifted in post. In Pixlr's Curves tool, use a conservative adjustment that keeps the midtones clean and the highlights protected without aggressively recovering shadow detail. The result should feel like available light rendered accurately.
Saturate colour accurately, not uniformly.
The Leica Summilux renders colour with a specific warmth and richness — particularly in reds, oranges, and skin tones. In Pixlr's HSL tool, give a slight push to the warm colour channels (reds, oranges, yellows) while keeping blues and greens at or below neutral. The palette should feel specific to the location, not generically vivid.
Work close and include the environment.
The 28mm focal length's defining quality is the combination of proximity to the subject and inclusion of environmental context. In post-processing, resist any crop that removes the surrounding context in favour of a tighter subject-only frame. The relationship between the figure and their environment is what his 28mm creates, and it should be preserved.
Print before you judge.
His conviction that books and prints are the only true ways to experience a photograph applies to the editing process too. If possible, print a test image at A4 or larger before finalising your Pixlr adjustments. Colour and tonal relationships that look correct on screen often read differently on paper.
How to Shoot Like Jonathan Jasberg
Fix your focal length and commit to it completely.
His own progression — from multiple lenses to a single 28mm — is his most emphatic piece of advice, and his most important technical decision. Choose one focal length, understand its exact spatial relationship to the world, and use it exclusively for a sustained period. The constraint will accelerate your development faster than any other single change.
Walk more than feels necessary.
20,000+ steps per day, across neighbourhoods that seldom see foreign photographers. The images that reward the longest viewing are not found on the tourist route. Go further, stay longer, and return to the same streets at different times of day and in different weather.
Shoot high volumes, edit ruthlessly.
His workshop benchmark of 1,000 images per day is not about lack of discipline — it is about maintaining the state of continuous visual engagement that produces the rare, precisely timed image. Shoot generously in the field; edit with extreme ruthlessness in post. Show only the images that genuinely achieve what you intended.
Know your ethical limits before you raise the camera.
His explicit advance preparation of ethical boundaries — knowing what he will and will not photograph — removes the hesitation and self-doubt that undermine timing in the field. Before any shoot, clarify your own position on the ethics of what you are doing. The clarity produces better work as well as a cleaner conscience.
Seek layered compositions, not single subjects.
His images work in multiple spatial planes — foreground, middle, background all contributing meaning to the frame. Before pressing the shutter, look at what is behind and around your primary subject. The combination of elements across spatial layers is what makes his images reward sustained looking.
Commit to the physical photograph.
His conviction that books and prints are the only true ways to experience a photograph is not nostalgia — it is an observation about how photographic attention works. Screen viewing is fast and competitive. Print viewing is slow and immersive. If you want to understand whether your images hold sustained attention, get them off the screen and onto paper.
Legacy
Jonathan Jasberg is still in the relatively early stages of what appears to be a long and serious photographic career. His significance at this stage is most clearly seen in the awards his work has accumulated in a short time — exibart street, LensCulture, Magnum Photography Awards, and multiple other international competitions — and in the quality and seriousness of the institutional contexts that have shown and published his work, from LFI to Trieste Photo Days.
His Cairo project — published as a book and exhibited internationally — represents his most sustained and fully realised body of work to date. The project's ambition (an extended, immersive engagement with one of the world's most complex and densely human cities) and the quality of its execution place him firmly in the tradition of serious documentary street photography, rather than the social-media-driven travel photography genre with which his nomadic lifestyle might otherwise associate him.
His Gion, Kyoto project — a long-term engagement with the traditional Geisha district — extends his practice into territory that is simultaneously culturally specific and globally legible. The combination of his patience with Japan as a subject (he has spent significant time in the country since 2010), his 28mm colour vocabulary, and the extraordinary visual richness of Gion's traditional architecture and contemporary inhabitants suggests that this project may come to represent his most important work.
As one of the most internationally active workshop leaders in contemporary street photography — conducting bespoke private workshops and group sessions across the cities he inhabits — he has also begun building the teaching dimension of his career that could, in time, make his influence on the next generation of street photographers as significant as his images themselves.
Books by Jonathan Jasberg
Cairo: A Beautiful Thing Is Never Perfect (2024) — His debut book, growing out of the Cairo series that won him the LFI feature and multiple international awards. A sustained photographic engagement with the streets, people, and everyday life of one of the world's most complex and densely human cities. The title is drawn from an Egyptian saying that an older man shared with Jasberg when he asked why he was photographing in a neighbourhood that seldom sees foreigners.
Conclusion
Jonathan Jasberg shoots exclusively with Leica cameras. He began with a Leica Q2 and a Leica M6 with 35mm lens in parallel, later dropping the M6 because "dealing with film while on the road became too burdensome." He currently uses the Leica Q3 — with its fixed Summilux 28mm f/1.7 ASPH — as his sole camera for all personal work. For commercial assignments as part of the Xiaomi Global Creators Team, he uses Xiaomi 13 Pro and 13 Ultra smartphones with Leica co-engineered camera systems.
His practice is built on the commitment to a single camera, a single focal length, 20,000 steps a day, and the conviction that the book and the print — not the screen — are the only true ways to experience a photograph.
"When I made the change to having 0 options and only shooting at 28mm, my progression sped up greatly."
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