Image by Joel Robison
While some people fantasize hitting the lottery to get their dream job, others take the chance of opening their fantasies to others, through drawing, painting, writing, or, in the case of Canadian photographer Joel Robison, know as Boy_Wonder on Flickr, applying his active imagination to photography.
Mixing his playful and inventive view of the world by mixing the ordinary with visual of a hidden or surrealistic world just underneath the surface, (and often with himself as the protagonist of these playful, single frame stories, Joel used six bottles of Coca Cola in one of his images, and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.
After establishing his career as a teacher, Joel responded to missing out on some creative need in his life by purchasing a used DSLR camera and starting to take pictures daily. When he turned the camera on himself as the subject, the lightbulb went off, and he found his voice.
A simple shot with Coca cola bottles as props posted in his Flickr account sat quietly until, a year later, he was contacted by the brand giant, at first to share the image through social media, and then to actually manage and grow Coke’s Flickr page and community.
In 2013, Coke asked him to take on a major visual role in the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour, firmly establishing not only for Coke but for Joel himself, that his full-time career is that of a photographer. However, I would add that more than just a photographer, Joel is an amazing storyteller, and through following his passion and vision, is an inspiration to others who would be willing to just spend time everyday making their hidden dreams visible.
[This report is derived from a profile about Joel Robinson from Flickr, which can be read, while viewing a video and many of Joel’s striking images, at: http://screen.yahoo.com/young-photographer-lands-dream-job-214020482.html ]
Featured image used under Creative Commons license by http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/
