Images & Art

As the school year draws to a close, you might very well be finding more time to indulge your photographic hobby.

Erik Johansson's imagination

That will be a good thing for those of you hoping to gain school credit for completing the program. I will be marking your work over the summer and submitting results to your DE school.

But I might also be taking some time off now and then to enjoy the outdoors (and my own photographic pursuits!) So please do not be dismayed if I am a little slower with feedback.

To lighten your day and give you some fascinating images to contemplate, here are a few compositions by the bright young (25-year-old) Swedish photographer (and computer engineering graduate student), Erik Johansson.

Here is a very brief interview with Erik. Though it is a small interview, it has several of his images.

Re-defining "pre-visualization"

And here is a much better interview, with fewer images.

This, of course, brings up the old grumble about post-production. At the dawn of photography, George Bernard Shaw insisted that photographs should ONLY portray “reality” in the same way your eyes captured it.

It was said of Shaw’s photography that “He is as able a photographer as he is motorcar driver. Though considerably less dangerous.”

Digital captures become raw material

Of course many photographers discuss and value the technique of "pre-visualization," whereby you create in your own mind the image you wish to create with your camera.

If you are using only the camera as a tool, triggering the shutter is the final step in a process that involves a great deal of thought as you marshal exposure, depth of field, composition and the elements of design and style to create a fresh image.

Since the digital age, however, many artists have come to think of digital images as raw material for compositions that carry a message that goes beyond ordinary perceptions.

You can make up your own mind on that issue — but please enjoy Erik's work!