Fun Photography

My last post was about our visit to Kalmar and the island of Öland.  In Kalmar, there was a special exhibit at Kalmar Castle by Swedish photographer, Erik Johansson, that I felt deserved a post all of its own.  It was so amazing that we went back to see it the next day too.  Couldn't get enough of his surreal photography.  It's hard to explain.  Everything in his photos is real but he manipulates them with Adobe Photoshop to alter them to present his creative ideas.  The photos are real . . . but they are not reality.  

Following are a few photos of his photos.  I had so many favorites that it was hard to pick just a few.  Google for Erik Johansson and you will find lots of information and more photos and even videos of how he does his work.  Be sure to click on the pictures to enlarge so you can see the little details that make it so interesting.  And also be absolutely sure to watch the video at the end where Erik talks about his photography.  So interesting!

This photo is titled Self-Supporting.  Reminds us of the many arches we see in Old World architecture.  Interesting that the "keystone" holds the arch up.  Without it, everything would fall.  I like to think that the keystone here is a church.  Many people here in Sweden are finding, because of the pandemic, that they have a need for God in their lives.  A 23-year old young man just joined our church who had always believed in God but didn't dare talk to anyone about his belief because Sweden is so anti-religion.  He was so happy to find that there are many people here in Sweden, and in fact, all around the world, who really do believe in God.

The Cover-Up.  We laughed a lot when we saw this photo.  It's a gloomy, cloudy day, so the man is covering up the sky to give us a bright, happy day.  The other man is bringing more rolls of white fabric in a wheelbarrow to continue the cover-up.  On a gloomy day, we should think happy thoughts and imagine that the day is sunny and bright.  Reminds me of a Shari Lewis song we sang with our kids, "Just let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day, And if your sweetie cries, just tell her that a smile will always pay.  Whenever skies are grey, don't worry or fret, A smile will bring the sunshine and you'll never get wet!"

Looking for Stars.  Absolutely love this one.  The man is searching in a star-less sky for stars that are right at his feet.  How many times do we look somewhere else for the things that are right around us?  (The sky is absolutely blue; no lights -- those are just reflections of the lights in the room).

Demand and Supply.  Our demands may be our undoing!!

Expectations.  Wow!  So many generations will follow after us.  What legacy will we leave them?

Cut and Fold.  This one blows us away.  Looks so real yet so unreal.  See the video below to see how this photo was made. 

What do YOU see in this photo?  Is that man in the left bottom corner trying to follow a map?  Where will he go?  Up or down?  By the way, this photo is called Under the Corner.

The Architect.  Doesn't this one play with your eyes and your mind?  What is real?  Is he inside or under the house?  So cool!

Falling Asleep.  Have you ever thought what a silly thing it is to say that we "fall asleep?"  Well now you can see for sure, that it is totally silly to fall asleep! 

Above is a very interesting video in which Erik Johansson explains how he makes his unique photographs.  And he has also compiled his photos in two photo books that are available at amazon.com or amazon.ca called Places Beyond and Imagine.  (And no, he is not paying us to say that!)  He is planning on producing another book of photos soon.

Last of all, we found a room by the exhibition that had a physical installation of one of Erik's photos, Full Moon Service.  Dumb us.  We didn't know that we could climb the ladder and take a picture of us holding the moon, just like in his photos.  In the actual photo (which is not in this post), there are people holding up moons.  So cool.  I guess they are "servicing the moon!"  Wish we would have figured out that we could have been in the picture.  Oh well.