Good Visual Lies: 40 Creative Photo Edits That Make You Question Reality By This Swedish Artist

Bored Panda reached out to August to learn more about him.

First of all, he shared: “An obsession with creating worlds has been at the center of my life for as long as I’ve been able to hold a pen.

“I grew up in the countryside of southern Sweden, where not much was happening, so I had to come up with my own ways to stay entertained—most of which involved creating things.

“As I got older, I jumped between various (failed) career attempts: comic book artist, filmmaker, animator, painter. I loved it all, but none of it ever turned into a real job. Eventually, I ended up studying advertising and landed a job at an agency in New York straight out of school.

“Over the next ten years, I bounced between New York, Paris, San Francisco, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. Now I’m back in southern Sweden. Still creating every day. But these days, my biggest passion is game development.

“Oh yeah—and being a dad.”

August shared more about what first drew him into the world of artistry.

“As I mentioned before, I had a lot of spare time and not much to do, so creating became my way of keeping myself entertained.

“I read tons of comics and was obsessed with video games (especially Zelda), but my fondest memories are of drawing my own ideas—what a comic book character or a Zelda boss could be—and then spending hours writing “world lore” about how these characters were connected to something bigger than just the drawings themselves.

“I still have those old sketches and sometimes go back to laugh at the poorly spelled madness.”

We also asked August to tell us more about the essence or underlying theme of his photos.

“When I first got into photography, we were in the streetwear era, where the dominant style was desaturated and overly contrasted. I quickly got bored of it and started making colorful images with low contrast, aiming to show as much of the picture as possible.

“But as that style grew more popular, my own work began to feel like a predictable formula. So I started manipulating my photos—to create images you couldn’t make with just a camera,” wrote August.

We wondered if August has a specific process he follows when creating. He shared a sneak peek behind the photos.

“I rarely plan out my photo shoots in advance. I shoot on auto mode and don’t fixate on getting the perfect capture. I often joke that I’m a terrible photographer but a great retoucher—and that’s where most of the important work happens.

“My images are often collages of several photos I’ve taken, combined to create a world that doesn’t exist—but very well could have.”

As for the audience’s take away, August shared his hopes: “I hope people feel like they’re seeing something for the first time.

“Originality has always been important to me—probably to my own detriment, since I think my painting and comic book days could have benefited from a little more theft.”

Lastly, August added: “I’ve been solo-developing a video game for nearly five years now, so if you like my style and love indie games, follow me on Instagram—exciting news is coming soon.”