Landscapes that are out of this
world: Artist creates fantastically surreal vistas
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Erik Johansson has created a
portfolio of stunning images combining photography, raw materials and digital
editing
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He takes hundreds of photographs
for a single image and pulls them all together using Adobe Photoshop
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The finished pictures show
surreal and lifelike scenes which are a mix of fantasy and authentic natural
landscapes
A photographer has created a
portfolio of incredibly surreal images using a combination of raw materials,
original photography and Adobe Photoshop alterations.
Erik Johansson, originally from
Sweden, claims to capture 'ideas' in his work. Whether using photographs and
digital editing, or even paint and hand made cardboard models to re-create an
imagined vision, his completed images look as though they are perfectly genuine
photographs.
In fact, every new image is a
combination of hundreds of original photographs, sometimes with raw materials
created by Mr Johansson himself, and dozens of hours spent in Adobe Photoshop
to digitally alter and combine different elements to illustrate his idea.
Mr Johansson writes on his website that he uses photography as a
means of 'collecting material to realise the ideas in my mind'.
First the image is sketched as a
basic idea. He then plans what is required to create the landscape and starts
identifying locations to photograph. These serve as the basis for the photo, or
what he calls the 'raw material'.
Any additional materials needed,
such as the cardboard model and paints required for Landfall are also
photographed.
The final part is putting the
photos together. This can take him anywhere from a few days to several weeks
and he describes it as the easiest step - like putting together the pieces of a
puzzle.
Scroll down for video
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In Mr Johansson's image Expecting
Winter, a woman is photographed sewing together blankets of snow across an
autumn landscape
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Go Your Own Road, showing a man
pulling an asphalt road across land, combines photos of a man pulling a blanket
and pictures of the scene
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This image, called Landfall, was
created by photographing a cardboard model with paint running down it, then
adding photographs of a real house and field on to it
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On the left, the power lines in
'Electric Guitar' stretch up and become the strings of a guitar, while Drifting
Away on the right illustrates a small town floating in a bottle
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The Cover Up shows two men
covering a gloomy landscape with a picturesque wallpaper of green trees, fields
and a bright orange sunset
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Helping Fall (left) and Leaving
Home (right) show a woman sucking leaves directly from a tree in autumn and a
home with wheels driving across a field
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A Diamond in the Rough: This self
explanatory image shows a giant diamond that appears to have come to a stop
after carving through a field
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Question Architecture, on the
left, carries a obvious message about modern architecture, while Vertical Turn
on the right, shows a surreal looking pathway dropping vertically as though it
is a natural cliff edge
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This image, showing a woman
vomiting milk onto her breakfast partner, is titled Vanlig frukost, which is
Swedish for 'regular breakfast'
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In this bizarre picture called
Zip City, tractors pull a zip closed and in doing so connect two layers of grey
urban buildings over a green landscape
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A second image using zips or
scissors, called Cut & Fold, shows fields being peeled apart by a pair of
painted scissors
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Roadworkers Coffee Break, which
shows a digger carving a noughts and crosses game on the road, is a surreal
picture but one which could easily pass off as genuine
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Downside of the Upside, which Mr
Johansson made in 2009, is an illusion showing two people impossibly standing
on opposite sides of the same bridge
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Houses and trees in this arctic
setting can be seen drifting apart in a polar sea in Breaking Up, which may be
a reference to human relationships
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Another incredibly surreal image
by Mr Johansson, this time showing a dropped vase that remains intact while the
arms of the person holding it have shattered
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Another optical illusion image
shows a man looking confused as he tries to understand how he will navigate a
staircase that doesn't make sense
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