Next up is hugely popular Swedish commercial photographer Erik Johansson. His images are fun and cheerful. Being commercial, looking at his work is like looking at adverts, but adverts we don’t mind so much 🙂

He captures ideas by combining images in new ways to create what looks like areal photograph,^[2] yet with logical inconsistencies to impart an effect of surrealism.^[2] Some finished images are the combination of “hundreds of original photographs” as well as raw materials, and Johansson spends dozens of hours using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop to alter the image digitally and to illustrate his idea.^[2] ReporterRobert Krulwich wrote that Johansson creates a “meticulous fantasy” which is “part photograph, part construction, part drawing” with “so many layers of foolery in his images, you can’t pull the illusion apart, it fits together so perfectly.” – Good old Wikipedia

Volvo’s miniseries features defiant pioneers who inspire, do things differently, challenge conventions, and blaze their own trail. Yup, that sounds like Erik to me. – Fstoppers

Above: “Impact” from the photography series Omojligt/Impossible. Photo: Erik Johannson

I went for the natural science program in high school and in 2005 I moved to Gothenburg to study Computer engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. By that time I didn’t have any plans on doing the photography for a living, I couldn’t imagine it to be a real profession, it was just a fun hobby and didn’t really believe that fun and work could be combined. But during my time studying my friend Eric bought a DSLR (Canon EOS 350d)… I was out taking pictures with Eric a few times and it led to me also getting a DSLR (Canon EOS 400d) the year after. – Erik on his website

“This is the part that takes the most time, because often I’m trying to source locations and objects for multiple ideas at the same time,” says Johansson, who has been working on the series since 2011… It is what he calls “putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”… The third and final step of his creative process involves hours of editing a multitude of images into one seamless impossible shot, transforming his sketch into a surrealist image… Once this puzzle is complete, Johansson leaves it to the viewer to perceive the mind-bending illusions as they please… “I usually don’t talk too much about my work. I’d rather hear what other people have to say…” – CNN Style