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Juhamatti Vahdersalo

My new photo series shows how technology has become our modern day religious icons

A bunch of different cables, broken power supplies and lots of old disassembled computers and broken cell phones laying useless in my garage inspired me to come up with an idea where I could use them before their final recycling.

Social media platforms in so many different forms and devices play a very important role in everyday life, and I think, for example, people hunching over their smartphones reminds people worshipping false gods. There is no need to argue about the benefits of technology but moderate use of it can be challenging for many. So I decided to create a series of pictures using Biblical personalities or other religious themes and phrases surrounded by modern-day technology.

I imagined what “politricks” look like and captured it in this cheeky portrait

“Politricks is the word ‘politics’ altered to convey the empty-campaign promises often experienced after politicians get elected.”

About a year ago I had this thought of making a picture from this word. I needed a suitable location and model that looked like a politician and had no problem to come and act one. Finding the right location was quite challenging because many of the locations were actively used by political organizations and obviously the content of the image does not flatter this activity so I had to find a sufficiently neutral place for the photoshoot.

I imagined what an “Organ Trade Market” might look like and made a photo of it

A surgeon at a meat market. An absolutely ridiculous and simple idea, so it had to be done for real! I am very lucky to have so many great friends with massive storages of strange stuff that they are willing to lend. I remembered that one of my friends had a stretcher so I only needed meat counter with innards and a couple of models.

As I was talking about this project to another friend of mine, he then figured out how to get models, meat counter and innards at once. One call and all was set, photoshoot next week. What a great feeling to have these kinds of contacts and people around me!

I made characters out of groceries and created a story around them

Before shooting this series, I saw a documentary about how different groceries are made. Big factories with endless assembly lines and hundreds of machines handling the products from start to end. It was quite interesting to watch how the products change their appearance completely from start to finish. An idea was born to create alternative ways of making these same groceries. And when you add just a drop of humanity to it, I think that’s a story.

Groceries are food (really??). They have no persona (you sure??). How do you create a story around them that creates a character to these lifeless pieces of healthy little things? These were thoughts in my head when I opened my refrigerator when brainstorming themes for my upcoming project… so I picked corns, cucumbers, tomatoes etc. and started sketching.

I created this low-budget set with DIY props for less than $75

I love DIY props and big scenes in photography that are well designed. Not many of us photographers have the place or money to create our own stages so I wanted to challenge myself to make one in our living room with a very low budget.

I had this idea of a photo with an environmental aspect that describes greed, gluttony and overconsumption in our modern world. The scenario of this idea is in a rugged living room that has a disgusting and filthy man sitting on an old sofa and he is surrounded by all the waste of the food he has consumed.

I make miniatures out of cardboard and create stories around them

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.

This photographer creates miniature horror scenes with Lego

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Lego characters make the most amazing subjects, they really do. It’s just like photographing people, but on a smaller scale. They’re more reliable, too. They show up, on time, do whatever you want them to, and don’t try to defame you all over the media. So, it’s no wonder they’re such a popular subject.

They’re a particular favourite for photographer Juhamatti Vahdersalo. Although, he’s gonna quite dark with his Lego characters. But why not? Nobody said the world in which toys live has to be all unicorns and rainbows. And these certainly aren’t.

How I shot the boy on the moon for the image “NO Fishing!”

It´s great to have an idea that gives you a good laugh. When I get these ideas I write them down and let them be a while. Then if it makes me giggle later on also I usually make a sketch / drawing it to see if it could work as a photo also.

Idea for this photo came when my friend saw a digital art photo that he thought was made quite poorly. “The result of a badly photoshopped picture looks always like that boy fishing from the moon.” was his comment of this photo. I don’t hate or see that the Dreamworks logo is poorly made but he for some reason does.

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