Johansson’s work springs from a simple thought: a basic idea he’d like to explore or an element of a picture he’d like to create. He starts with a quick sketch, develops a clear idea of what he wants to do, and carefully plans the execution of the image. He shoots every image that goes into a final composition and credits pre-planning before moving to photography for saving time in post-production. However, once he’s on location, he's open to incorporating anything interesting or better than what he’d imagined. While post-production in Adobe Photoshop CC is an intrinsic part of his process, Johansson has been trying to capture more in-camera and then use Photoshop in a more subtle way. This shift bolsters the realism of his surreal images.

Johansson finds inspiration everywhere. At any given moment, his environment, music he’s listening to, and his mood can all affect the tone of his work. He grew up on a farm in Götene, a small countryside town in Sweden, later moving to Gothenburg, Berlin, and finally Prague, where he’s lived for two years. Before living in Prague, he drew more heavily from his Swedish roots and the landscape there, but he has begun featuring scenery from the Czech Republic in his work. “Under the Corner” (see below) is his first image entirely photographed in Prague, though he has used photographs from the Czech Republic in previous work. He avoids using landmarks or anything so identifiable that it would easily tie his work to a recognizable, real-world geography. He’d rather infuse his photographs with the feel of a place, constructing somewhere ambiguously far away, rather than give the viewer a known reference point.