I’m a creative minded person and feel very frustrated when the creativity strikes and I have nothing to photograph. This was the main reason I started making these cardboard models.

I thought of all the everyday home items that could be used for creating figures. I found the boxes we used when we moved into our home are still in our garage. They had also “nice” package symbols on them which gave me a couple of ideas of the story that could be created around them and also ended up using them concretely on two of my pictures.

The models are mostly made from cardboard and glued together with hot glue. “Letter to Pedro” also has leftover plastic that I have found in the trash of local sign material selling company in the past and stored some reason I don’t know.

There’s symbols printed and added to them and some other props made from different materials. The landscape materials vary from sandblasting sand to real water and potato flours. Scenarios have also lots of smoke created by smoke machine I own.

Letter to Pedro

I use a multilayer lightning technique when photographing these scenes. It gives me much more control in post and I can correct the mood of the light if the background required it. When I have all the necessary photos taken I combine them in Photoshop and add a background that I have photograph myself or take from stock and modify to fit in the story/feeling.

This side up

Ran out of imagination

Cloudmill

I’m very happy with the results. They all have a story around them and you can create it on your own terms of imagination. I see and feel something sad but romantic and also hopeful in them, all the ingredients of drama. Creative mind satisfied… for now.

About the Author

Juhamatti Vahdersalo is an amateur photographer based in Finland. He likes to tell stories through his photographs and work. You can find out more about Juhamatti on his website, follow his work on Instagram and 500px, or reach out to him through Facebook. This article was also published here and used with permission.