Erik Johannson

Erik Johannson is photographer that takes pictures of surreal happenings. For example, in the photograph below, there is a picture of a road, yet at the end of the road, a man appears to be dragging some sort of light material, which connects into the road, so we then realise that it is in fact the road that he is dragging. This is a good piece of work, for we, as the viewers, find the photograph controversial to what we would normally expect, and has been done in a clever way. Also, a lot of colour has been used in this, which may have been made more vibrant during the extensive editing stage, so some formal elements have been used as well.

Johannson has also taken photographs, or portraits, or people. A formal element evident in these photographs is 'form', due to the shadows evident in the background of the person. These shadows have been positioned correctly via the lighting so as to allow us to understand the dimensions of this man. Also, there is not much colour difference in the photo, due to the man's lack of clothing, so all of the colour appears to remain quite dull, and blends into the background. This shows that Erik Johannson can take photographs of both surreal work, and take photographs of things that would be considered 'normal'.

Johannson has also managed to edit two photographs together to the extent that they look entirely different to what they looked like prior editing. In this example, Johansson took a picture of a house on a hill on a lake, and a close up of a fish, and then merged them together. This is yet another example of surreal photography, for it goes against what the viewers of photography normally see, (which would either just be a house on a hill, or a close up of a fish, not both merged together). I like this style simply because of it's uniqueness.

Finally, there is a photograph of Erik Johannson himself, as he climbs out a mirror. This surreality again matches some of the formal elements. Reflection is found in a mirror, and is described as one of the formal elements, so it is evident that Johannson keeps the formal elements in mind when he is taking photographs. This self portrait is effective, yet again, due to the unrealistic qualities is possesses, and the uniqueness that went into the editing of this photograph, so overall, I enjoy the majority of Erik Johannson's work.

Erik Johannson has been particularly influential to me in his work portraying the surreal through editing. I have thought more carefully during my shoots as to what I could make look surreal in the editing process, without making it look too unnatural or ridiculous. Eventually I came up with the idea to join two photographs of my classmate, Katy, together. In one photograph, she has a knife in her mouth and in the other photograph, she does not. These photographs were taken during the Mapplethorpe studio shoot, and edited together soon after. As Mapplethorpe kept his photographs natural, it is evident that I got my inspiration not from him, but from Johannson. Here is the final edited photograph:

To summarise, Johannson is one of my favourite photographer, due to the fact that he specialises in his editing skills, which is my favoured part of the course. Out of all of the photographers I have analysed so far, Johannson's work is the most inspiring, and a favourite of mine, due to the fact that it is quite unlike anyone else's work, and is completely unique in it's originality.