Recently, the photographer, retoucher, or as he prefers to call himself, visual artist Erik Johansson, was named Nature Photographer Of The Year 2015 by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. In the spring, he conducted a major exhibition at Fotografiska in Stockholm and this summer you can experience his visual arts at the Västergötland Museum in Skara. At the age of 31, his surreal images create a lot of attention in Sweden and abroad. Further to this, he has recently been appointed ambassador of EIZO’s monitors that are a central part of his image creation. We had a chat with Erik to get to know more about how he is working to create the imaginary mages, what motivates him and to get some of his best advice on how to work more creatively with images.
“I have always liked to paint, photograph and experiment in Photoshop to create images. Since early on, I had an attraction to catch an impossible problem. The ability to piece together an imaginary image based on a variety of real images are the theme for my pictures today”.
Erik Johansson, who worked as a photographer and retoucher, spends most of his time creating images. With an engineering background, he pays great attention to detail and has a willingness to break down an image in a variety of details, and he do calls himself a perfectionist.
“My head is full of ideas and I am often inspired by nature, perhaps that is the reason why I was awarded with this year’s nature photographer award. When creating new images, the idea is central and the basis for my work. Then I put a lot of time to plan the various elements of the image. I spend a lot of hours out in the field photographing”.
“It’s all in the eyes of the beholder”
Except for the camera, the monitor is the most important tool and he spends numerous hours in front of it.
“Although my work is highly digital, my visual art is best experienced printed in large format where the audience will be able to experience himself as a part of the image. To achieve this, it is crucial that the monitor I use is able to reproduce the exact colours that will be displayed in printing. Through its automatic calibration feature the EIZO’s monitors are by far the best”.
So, what is allowed when creating images, can it look like nothing else?
Yes, and no is the answer. Erik says that there are no rules for an idea, but it is central that the images he creates should look realistic, even if the object cannot exist in reality.
If you have become inspired by Eric's images and want to create your own visual art, Erik’s first and foremost important advice is to get out there and start take lot’s of pictures and then experiment with them in the computer. There is no right or wrong. For further inspiration, please have a look at this clip where Erik tells us more about his work and methods. - http://www.eizo.se/default.aspx?page=2&news=351.
Facts:
Erik Johansson
Occupation: Visual artist
EIZO monitor: ColorEdge CG318 - 4K
News: Sweden’s Nature photographer of the year 2015 and a new exhibition at the Västergötland Museum in Skara this summer.
Dream Picture: The next image is always my dream; you have to shift through the ideas. I don’t have time to create more than 6 images per year.
Photo: Fishy Island, Erik Johansson, http://www.erikjohanssonphoto.com/#/fishy-island
