Björn Lexius (00:01)
Hi, you may probably know me, probably not. ⁓ My name is Björn. I'm a wedding photographer based in Hamburg, Germany. yeah, while this is not my first podcast or not my first podcast series. I actually recorded a podcast called LXS a few years ago and then I had a German podcast with a friend of mine during the pandemic. And yeah, but...
I've been thinking about recording another podcast for quite a while and you might wonder why, because there's so many podcasts out there, so many podcasts about wedding photography. just like me, you may think, why the fuck? Like, do we need another one? And honestly, no, we don't need another one of those generic ones. ⁓
I basically I want this podcast to be like
I want this to be the one that feels right for me. the podcast I had before, like one of them was an interview podcast and honestly, it was hard finding guests and scheduling all of it. And it really wore me out. And the other one felt like at some point I didn't have anything to say and all me and Christopher did was just...
talking, but without maybe any value for anybody else, which of course it's not a bad thing because you can just listen to podcasts for educational reasons.
somehow it didn't feel right anymore. this time for me, like this podcast, it's not really about what I want to say. It's about what I really can't keep inside anymore. Like things that bother me, things I wish I would be able to hear about in other podcasts. ⁓
You know, there are so many people I want to talk to, questions I want to ask, things I want to say, like no filter, no polishing. You already know this by now that this is like, this is not scripted. ⁓ This is like, you know, the idea behind Forza Artistic Beating podcast is to have conversations, honest conversations between photographers, artists in the writing space who...
What I feel have a bit more to say than just the generic marketing blah, because in the end, know, there's...
There's so many podcasts outside of the wedding space, like I mentioned before. And one thing that really bugs me about them is that it's mostly, it's about the what and the how. It's hardly about why. And it's most of the time it's about successes, not about failures. It's all about tips and tricks and
Oftentimes, yes, this is hands on and yeah, I understand why you want to do that because you all want to have shortcuts to success. And I feel...
It's missing depth, actual depth. And all these shortcuts, like, I don't know, I mean, it's talking business with business, strategy with strategy, and I get it, it's fine. It's what we all need. And trust me, I know that because I'm a pretty horrible business person. But this is not what I'm here for. I want emotion. I want vulnerability. I want doubt, mess, humanity.
conversations that kind of leave a mark, conversations that you may not have heard before. things people say that you might not expect them to say, I don't know, let's say, as a photographer, you look up to a lot and you are dealing with self-doubt and positive syndrome and you would hardly believe that this person is feeling the same, but
Honestly, we all do, and you will hear about that in this podcast. ⁓ I will also talk about things that people may not enjoy listening to in a way that's maybe not comforting for your soul. Things that might hopefully make you question why you do things in the way you do it and yada yada, these kinds of things.
This podcast is for people who feel like they don't belong, even though they're surrounded by success. People who feel like they want more out of this than just shooting pretty people in pretty dresses in luxurious locations. It's for creatives to see photography as art, as emotion.
as a connection between humans, not just purely a job.
It's for those of you who are tired pretending to say they're okay when you're actually falling apart inside. Because I don't know, bookings are low, you're questioning your own quality, your own talent, your own skill set, whatever, your own creativity, like you're questioning things. It's for people who want to create because they have to, not because you're chasing
algorithm, success, popularity. I mean, it's about maybe it's about remembering why we started photography in the first place. And I don't know about you, but for me, I started photography because I didn't really have another choice. I was close to burnout and I needed something to calm me down. So that was photography for me. It was there when I needed it the most, as cliche as this may sound. It
allowed me to start a career back in 2012 where I hardly believed I was able to make a living from that. But somebody believed in me and people believed in me and booked me. And I'm fucking thankful for that because now it's 2025 and I'm still here, still loving what I do, still passionate about it, still caring about it, not just making the money, making machines.
So this is actually definitely not for people who are looking for fast success, like a seven steps to six figure kind of formula. you know where to go for these things. This is not me. Do not expect this. This is also not for people who see creativity as a commodity or for those who want answers but aren't asking better questions. I mean, to improve, we got to...
ask questions that are uncomfortable for all of us, like looking ourselves in the eye and saying, hey, is this the best I can be? Is this the most creative I can be? Are these photographs worth telling it? Am I doing the best for my clients? Am I doing the best for me?
So if you want business hacks, don't come to me. I'm not your guy. If you want truth, welcome. I appreciate you being here. ⁓ So why I'm doing this is...
I want to talk to people in a way that it's not like the typical podcast interview, me having a script. ⁓ I actually want to listen to people. want to hear more from them, get to the human side of it. I want to be moved and I want to learn from people. I don't want strategy checks. ⁓
I mean, I'm not the only one feeling this shit. You know, like...
I could use AI to calm my weddings, but I care too much about the story. Like, I...
I really feel this. I know I need to do this. ⁓ think like seven, eight years ago when someone asked me why photography is my kind of thing and I said to me photography is like breathing. I need to do this.
And when you're listening to this and you feel like, holy shit, I thought I was the only one going through all of this. No, you're not. You are in the right space. You are welcome here. Please stay. Please connect. ⁓ Because in the end, mean, sometimes all we need is to know that we're not alone in this mess.
Yeah, this is superficial, shallow.
wedding industry where everybody pretends to be friends and we all know it's not the truth but I feel that we can all learn from each other and together we can make this thing better.
So what you can expect is, I'm not going to promise this, but because I know I've already failed another time. But I can tell you this, I already recorded three episodes with three photographers. The first episode is out when you're listening to this, because I'm launching it with this one. ⁓ I'm trying to have new episodes every two weeks. ⁓ Most of the time...
I would have guests in interview in conversation, a more like a, I don't know, late night talk, not like a all polished kind of interview. And
If I don't have a guest just because maybe someone had to cancel the scheduled recording or whatever, you may sometimes have episodes of just me talking. And I hope that's fine too, because I feel like I got a few things to say. ⁓ But the guests I have, these will be people I truly care about. Either because I already know them and I feel like, and I know they got things to say.
or it's people who I feel like I haven't heard enough from them yet. These might be people I've never spoken to before. And this actually might be pretty cool because there's like an honest curiosity there in this case. if you have people on your mind who would be fitting as a guest, so always feel free to send me an email telling me, hey, speak to this person.
And as people, it's not about their reach, it's about their realness. It's about things that are dear to them, things that make their heart beat, things we all need to hear more.
So some episodes might be short and sharp or just like an introduction, just like this one, but some others may be long as hell because I tend to over talk. And I also want my guests to be talking a lot. Like I honestly want to come down to the core of what makes it a heartbeat. So every episode needs, will be whatever it needs to be. And I hope that's fine.
⁓ You will already see there's not always like a script, not always a structure because I'm jumping back and forth. It's just during conversation, just the way we communicate. ⁓ I could actually edit this all in post and blah, blah, blah. And I may do slightly do it, but most of the time this will be like the way it was recorded.
So, if you're looking for a podcast that makes you feel something, please stay. If you're in the middle of a creative identity crisis, also stay. Get in touch, tell me about it. Maybe we can talk on an episode about it, actually. If you're tired of faking it and you want something real, also stay. I don't know exactly where this is going, but I know it's where I'm supposed to be right now because...
This is where my heart beats for again, like...
In the last episode I recorded.
There was a point when I noticed there was this opening up moment and I enjoyed this so much and I took so much from it and I hope you can too. So when you're done with this quick introduction, blah blah blah, trailer, whatever you call it, episode, please feel free to jump into the first episode with my dear friend from Mexico, Fair Horristi. And look forward to the other two episodes I already recorded and the ones that are coming up next. I'm reaching out to people right now.
asking if they want to join, if they want to be a guest. So I'm looking forward to what this is going to be and I hope you do. Thanks for listening. Have a great day. Bye. This is For The Heart Still Beating.