Erik Johansson, a 23-year-old computer engineering student, from Sweden has a sense for good ideas for manipulations. While most people try to hide when they use Photoshop to brush up their pictures, Erik Johansson quite obviously distorts images but does it so cleverly that we almost start believing in the amazing illusions he creates.
In one shot (see the photo above,) a man appears to pick up a tarmac road and drag it behind him like a sheet; in another a young man seems to be ironing his own two-dimensional body (see the photo below.)
Unlike digital artists who find random pictures they can build upon, Johansson’s work is his own, 100 per cent. He comes up with an idea for a new image, sets out to take the pictures and then gets to work at them with imaging software. In many of his stunning images, he is even the model whose face gets distorted, who strolls through a summer landscape or is a mere marionette hanging by threads.
Erik, who lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, said: “I get inspiration from almost everywhere. I actually get most of the ideas from things that happen in my daily life.”
Johannson got his first digital camera at age 15 and even though he started manipulating the images he took early on, initially he did it solely for fun. Only when he bought his first SLR camera in 2007 did he start taking photo retouching and manipulations more seriously.
Asked in an interview with Abduzeedo.com about “where does his inspiration come?!” from and “how does he come up with the ideas?” Johannson said: “That is a hard question because I can’t really tell. The inspiration is everywhere in the daily life, but I also look a lot at photos and drawings on the web. I think the most important thing is to make a note of every idea, otherwise it will might be gone in a few seconds.”
Given the skill level involved, he estimates that each of his photographs takes between 10 and 20 hours from concept to final image. Asked in an interview with abduzeedo.com about his workflow, he admits: “I always have a sketch of the final idea. But it always ends up different, in a good way mostly. When I have come up with an idea I try to find good spots to use for the photos and then it’s time for the photoshopping.”
The young photographer draws inspiration from artists like M.C. Escher, Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte and others but also from photos and drawings he sees on the Net. He shares some advice on keeping the good ideas coming: “I think the most important thing is to make a note of every idea, otherwise it might be gone in a few seconds.”
In an interview with Don’t Panic magazine, Johannson explained the motifs behind his work: “My goal is to make pictures as realistic as possible, but at the same time impossible. Many photographers try to look weird, so I try to make my shots as plausible as possible. I would say I try to use humour a lot and I rarely have a didactic message. Sometimes I want to tell something, but mostly I want people to interpret.”
Erik Johansson said: “To look at a situation in a different and unexpected way can sometimes generate ideas but the best ideas I get just come to me. Everything I do is very well planned. I almost never go out photographing without any idea about what I will do with the photos. Looking for the right place to shoot the photos is actually what takes up most of my time.”
“The time required to put the photo together is very different depending on the photos that I have. It mostly takes between 10 to 20 hours, sometimes more. ‘I like to change my photos in impossible and strange ways. From the beginning I started to modify photos just for fun, and I still think it is,” he added.
Check more stunning photographs on Erik Johansson’s personal website or see his profile in a swedish community.
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