Erik Johansson

Erik Johansson is a well known photographer who has inspired many people. I've only just recently discovered Johansson's work and immediately fell in love and became inspired by his talent and unique style. Johansson creates surreal photographs and portrays them in a realistic way with a touch of humor. Johansson is self taught in both photography and retouching and has been working with clients such as Google, Adobe and Microsoft. I am inspired by how far Johansson has come from being a self taught photographer and he has inspired me to try new techniques with my photographs.

Set Them Free

A few examples of his work are; Cover up, Drifting Away, Expecting Winter and Set Them Free. Only to name a few. The first photograph I saw of his that caught my eye was Set Them Free. I never knew it was by Johansson. But once I found out who it was by, it inspired me to research him some more.

Here's a little more about him. Johansson is a full time photographer and retoucher from Sweden based in Berlin, Germany. Johansson has worked on both personal and commissioned projects and he sometimes creates street illusions. Johansson has stated " I don't capture moments, I capture ideas."  Johansson has always been a creative person. From an early age Johansson has liked to draw. He also became interest in computers which allowed him to escape into other worlds. At the age of 15, Johansson received his first digital camera which opened up a new world for him. Johansson has said "Being used to drawing, it felt quite strange to be done after capturing a photo, it wasn't the process of creating something in the same way. Having an interest in computers, it made it quite a natural step to start playing around with the photos and creating something that you couldn't capture with the camera. It was a great way of learning, learning by trying."

Johansson moved to Gothenburg in 2005 to study Computer Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. During his time there, Johansson took up his interest of retouching. Johansson published some work online and started to get request about commissioned work. Johansson started out freelancing in parallel with his studies. Once completing his studies, Johansson graduated with a Master in Interaction Design. After that, Johansson wanted to try the photography path and move to the Eastern part of Sweden and worked full time as a freelance photographer. In 2012 Johansson moved to Berlin. Johansson has said that " Berlin is a very artistic city, with lots of inspiration."  Which is where he is based today.

Johansson has spoken at the TED conference and the Adobe MAX conference. And as mentioned before, Johansson has been working with clients such as Google, Adobe and Microsoft but his personal work and concepts will always be what's most important to him. Johansson has said that "Growing up on the Swedish countryside had a big impact on my visual style. A lot of the environments in my photos are captured near places I know, around my parents’ home with wide open landscapes and small red houses. Inspiration is everywhere and what you can imagine is what you can create. Inspire, be inspired" -Erik Johansson.

Here is some work Johansson created for Google and Adobe.

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If you would like to know more about Erik Johansson or would like to see some more of his work, check out this link. http://erikjohanssonphoto.com/

Posted By Jess.