Conceptual Photography; 13 images from multi-award winning artist

Visualizing the backside of tech with Conceptual photography

Using contrast to create conceptual photos

"Simulation" is a striking piece of conceptual photography. It shows a child floating with a VR headset against the stunning backdrop of Norway’s mountains. This piece explores the themes of instant gratification and the appeal of virtual reality, which are common in this genre. The child transformed with superpowers and stylish clothes highlights our dependency on technology for happiness.

Conceptual photographers use such contrasts to delve into the tension between digital escapism and the beauty of the natural world. The calm landscape contrasts with a darker future, urging us to consider technology’s impact on young minds. As real-life experiences take a back seat, what will this mean for future generations?

By blending studio and outdoor photography, the artist invites us to reflect on how technology shapes our perceptions, encouraging a deeper appreciation of reality amidst the digital draw.

Bullets of Information Captured in Conceptual Photography

Combining different themes to convey a message

The conceptual photography artwork "Warfare" vividly captures the essence of modern conflicts, where information has replaced traditional weaponry. In this piece, a bullet shell with a hand holding a phone at its tip symbolizes how battles are now fought in the digital realm, targeting minds instead of bodies.

Conceptual photographers often delve into profound themes; this artwork is no exception. It reflects the shift from physical to psychological warfare, where misinformation spreads like wildfire, influencing perceptions and shaping realities. The imagery of a bullet transformed into a tool for digital manipulation underscores the power of information in contemporary conflicts.

By blending powerful visuals with thought-provoking themes, "Warfare" exemplifies how conceptual art can challenge our understanding of modern struggles. Conceptual photos like this one urge us to reconsider the nature of warfare and the impact of information on our beliefs and actions. As we navigate a world where digital content increasingly mediates reality, this piece serves as a poignant reminder of the battles waged within our minds.

The Seduction of Digital Content

Using provocation to reach an audience

"Streamer," a thought-provoking piece of conceptual photography, portrays a woman fixated on a screen, her head replaced by a garbage bag. She leans forward, captivated by the digital content that fills her mind with garbage. This artwork employs conceptual art to critique our modern obsession with digital media.

Conceptual photographers often use such imagery to provoke thought about societal issues. In "Streamer," the contrast of comfort and detachment challenges viewers to reflect on how technology can both enrich and ensnare our lives. The woman's posture symbolizes our collective surrender to digital distractions, illustrating how we willingly trade genuine satisfaction for fleeting entertainment.

Through "Streamer," conceptual photography sheds light on the consequences of our dependency on screens, urging us to reconsider the true value of our attention and the impact of constant connectivity on our well-being.

He creates his props and objects to convey stories.

With conceptual photography, the artist uses different objects that lead the viewer into the image, helping the viewer understand the story; Andreas often creates his props with manual techniques. Creating realistic scenarios using props and objects is one way to create conceptual art.

In this photo, Andreas used two boxes, leading the viewer to wonder if it's two beds or two coffins. Are the persons in these boxes alive or dead? Or, in between, living in a virtual world? It tells a story about what future love might look like.

Behind the scenes creating conceptual photography

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Combines elements and props to convey a story

Inspiration from known stories

The artwork Divided lifts all the different ways we are disunited as humans and society; we are desperately looking for ways to belong - politics, race, and religion and we, therefore, are separated. With conceptual photography, Andreas wants to convey that curiosity is still present even if we are more divided than ever.

His inspiration for this artwork derives from Leonardo da Vinci's "The Creation of Adam." The work is created with a mix of models and objects, such as an inflatable globe, a shattered round ceramic ball, smoke, and black slime.

Identifies and uses scenarios that the viewer can relate to

Building scenes with props in photography

Most people recognize how our world has changed with social media being in our lives, for good and bad. Free will is a conceptual artwork that speaks about the power and addictiveness of social media; we are nested into a system that captures us to retain us for profit.

Consequently, we step back from real-world social interaction many times, and most people today recognize this. We interact with our phones more than with our friends and family. 

The scene in this conceptual photography artwork is simple yet complex, with a collection of props that creates a scenario that looks much like an altar, a man who worships his social media gods.

Andreas' award-winning conceptual photography contains a hand-crafted logotype made from wood, a bust of a famous social media person (guess who?) printed with a 3D printer, a bible, candles, and more.

Latches on to iconic pop-culture

The genre conceptual photography is about conveying a story, message, or similar. In this image, Andreas parallels the story in Squid Game, a popular Netflix show, with modern society.

It features desperate people who voluntarily participate in a deadly game with guards monitoring every step, with a slight chance of winning a life-changing price. Social media is the same; it is not fatal but has real-world consequences.

We search for meaning to belong, and many hope to win the highest price of fame and fortune, being recognized, with social media companies monitoring every step of the way.

Using the iconic red clothes with hoodies from the film, Andreas replaced the guard's symbols with attached social media logotypes on their masks.

Behind the scenes creating The Game

Conceptual photography makes the impossible real

Technology helps us with many things but also gets under our skin, saving and tracking our most private lives. Taking stories to the extreme is one way of lifting messages; what is the ultimate way of marketing a product? What about implanting an idea before birth?

This image is created by photographing a few-month-old child and using digital techniques to make it look like she's in her mother's womb. This method of creating conceptual photography is called photo manipulation.

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He creates art from his heartbreaking personal story

Another way to express ideas in conceptual photography is to use something personal and create a concept. In Lost Love, Andreas uses his unique, heartbreaking story, the loss of his parents, to create something truly creative and horrifying: the loss of his parents.

The first thing that comes to mind is whether it's a real heart; if not, what kind of heart? And what is that in the background? Maybe coal? No, it's rose leaves. Andreas created this image with a silicon-based heart modified with a scar.

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Creates impossible scenarios with photo manipulation

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Predict and paint future scenarios with photography

Mental time travel with conceptual art

Everyone can see how our society is developing; we are all using our digital devices more and more. Many people wonder what our future will look like, and in this conceptual artwork, Andreas takes it to its" edge."

The concept makes the viewer, mentally, time travel in two directions; it takes the viewer far into the future where humans no longer exist, where other species have found must, Homo sapiens, and are observing us.

Secondly, we see our legacy, and the Time Machine returns us to the present day, where we reflect on our actions. 

The concept contains many manually created elements, from modifying an anatomically correct skeleton to making it look like a skeleton buried in the soil. Andreas created a large container filled with sand and molded it with gypsum to fit the skeleton.

Behind the scenes with Hasselblad and Andreas Varro

See this promotionvideo published by Hasselblad where Andreas Varro creates some of his conceptual photography artworks.

Manually made textures with complex techniques

Conceptual photography often conveys feelings; in this case, the negative feelings from the never-ending pursuit of fame, wealth, and money are something that most people appreciate, a circle that leads us to believe that whatever we need is on the other side, where happiness awaits.

This conceptual photograph reflects that no matter how much we have, we always beg for more. The conceptual artwork is created by photographing arms and hands and applying the texture of money on the model's skin, using Photoshop and advanced digital techniques.

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Creative and hard-to-catch angles

Mythology in conceptual photography art

Using well-known stories to convey a concept is a way of making the user understand the essence of conceptual photography. In this case, Andreas uses the story from Greek mythology, where it's told that Charon, Hade's fairy man in the underworld, needs his payment to pass bodies over from the land of the living to the dead.

The concept plays with the cryptocurrency trend, and we do not have the means to pay Charon in the afterlife. Andreas photographed the artwork in different locations; the boat is lying in the water with water lilies around it; Andreas photographed the man with the coins in a photography studio, and later, Andreas merged all elements in Photoshop.

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The balance between beauty and despair

Challenge the status quo with dark compositions and stories

Sending mixed messages is a way of captivating an audience, making something beautiful with conceptual photography, and at the same time making it dark and scary.

Andreas takes the viewer on a journey; should Morally accept this image? Does this apply to me? Am I the problem? Are my children like this? Can I improve?

Art can be many things; Andreas wants to challenge the status quo, which he does in a thought-provoking way. Simplistic techniques are a way of creating powerful messages in conceptual photography.

Props and clothes lift the notice of superficiality, and a 3D-printed phone rig designed especially for this photo shoot is used.

Capturing the audience with details in conceptual photography

Making the eyes wander with complex compositions

Making the viewer's eyes swift through the image, exploring details, and discovering new components and messages over time is an excellent way to make a photo interesting.

New Gods lift the new, modern way of being famous, being an influencer, and using platforms to spread ideas, many times, ideologies.

We place our "faith" in our inability to see past a large follower count. Andreas created this image by photographing many models in a photography studio and combining them with a background view from the heart of Stockholm.

The style of the artwork creates a mysterious Renaissance feeling.‍

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Speaks about our narcissistic, modern lives