After an 18-year career in the film industry, Jonathan Cohen utilises his skills honed as a Cinematographer in his work as an architecture & landscape photographer. Based in Sydney, Jonathan’s work has taken him across Australia and around the world. His passion for photography, architecture & sustainable design; and his belief in discovering ‘the magic of a place’ drives him to capture the essence of a building or interior.

"I’m a photographer because it’s my lens for capturing and experiencing beauty in the world. And in the act of photographing a building, design or landscape I’m taken back to the magical place I grew up in.

As a kid, my family lived in a house designed by Bruce Rickard – a Sydney-born architect who was once described as “the Frank Lloyd Wright of Australian architecture”. A key member of the Sydney School, he was one of the most significant Australian architects of the 20th century – and for me, the house he designed for our family was the spark that germinated my passion for architecture and environmentally-considered design. 

Set in bushland settings, like ours in Middle Cove, Rickard’s work sought harmony between the landscape and the built form. Characterised by the use of natural materials, large windows and a flat roof that we used to jump off, it was a home for my sense of adventure and imagination as much as a place to live.

My visual sensibilities were formed by the experience of living in that house and getting my first camera at the age of eight. A hand-me-down from my parents, the AGFA point-and-click camera took 120-sized film and was my entrée to image-making.  But it was hiking the Routeburn and Milford tracks in New Zealand when I was 12, and photographing the mountains and landscapes along the way that ignited my love of travel and landscape photography.

As a teenager, I kept taking photos, got a better camera and built a darkroom in the outdoor shed. That led to me studying photography at the Sydney College of the Arts where I became fascinated with design and film.

That fascination turned into an 18-year career in the film where I travelled across Australia and the world working my way up through the camera department to become a Cinematographer. After becoming sick and burnt out, I took a different career path running my own business for a number of years before turning back to what I love the most ­– photography, sustainable design and architecture.

The magic of a place that I discovered as a child is what still drives me to capture the essence of a landscape, building or interior. 

Let’s talk about your next project".