By Hannah Schenker
Swiss photographer John Wilhelm is keeping it all in the family with his wild and wacky creations featuring his children. Calling himself a “photoholic”, Wilhelm actually grew up in the photography world as his father, an experienced hobby photographer, founded at least two photography associations.
“So I grew up in an environment of cameras, magazines, lenses, self-made camera-baggages, darkrooms and funny weddings,” he says on his website.
However, all that fiddling about with film and tricky development processes failed to inspire him and it wasn’t until he finally held a digital camera in his hands that the real spark happened. Because of that, he says, “a long journey began, a journey through lots of camera systems, techniques, experiences and finally software products.”
In 2011, he made his first forays into the world of Photoshop and hasn’t looked back.
“I love bringing my fantasy to life with the help of my own images, Photoshop and 3D Software, he says. “Due to the fact that it’s more an obsession than plain passion I call myself a photoholic.”
Turning the lens to his children has inspired these fantastical scenes, but isn’t it difficult to photograph children?
“I guess if you have a healthy emotional connection to your kids they can feel if something is really important for you and then they cooperate (and if they don’t there are still sweets and candies),” John told Bored Panda. “Most of my images are heavily manipulated but not all of them are compositions. If an image works straight out of the camera I just improve it (beauty retouching, cleanup, level corrections, sharpening, colors and tones, emphasize light, etc.). What I really love is to bring different images together to create something completely new.”
Scroll down to enter into his magical world, and make sure to follow his Facebook page and visit his website for all of his latest creations.
