Surrealism - 'a 20th century new and experimental movement in Art and Literature which sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example - by the irritation juxtaposition of images'.
What is Surreal Photography? Surreal pictures usually represent overlapping photographs, abstract forms or blasts of light that the viewer's senses. The brain then perceives that the things they are observing are quite impossible in reality, yet at the same time their eyes are looking at something that is an unbelievably realistic photograph.
Erik Johansson Erik Johansson is a Swedish-born artist based in Prague who creates surreal images by recombining photographs and other materials. He captures ideas by combining images in new ways to create what looks like a real photograph, yet he uses inconsistencies that aren't logical which create the surrealism effect.
I think he uses his work to create magical and dreamy views of life. My favourite photographs are the planets picture as well as clock one. I really like the creativity and idea around the planets, as it shows two people putting the planets in the night sky as their job. I think that this photo is really unique and surreal.
My Favourites of His Work
I think that these are his best pictures because they are extremely visionary and individually distinctive. The way that he uses the sheep fluff to create clouds and the artificial planets to create the solar system opens a whole new world of ideas and photography to audiences that see and experience his work.
Kyle Thompson Kyle Thompson is an American photographer from Chicago, Illinois. His style, as he describes it, is surreal conceptual photography; the creation of a surreal world in order to depict concepts.
Thompson takes a picture of himself and then edits himself in surreal situations. I like his photography because he uses different parts of nature and makes them new and and almost dream-like.
My Favourites of His Work
I like his photography because he uses different parts of nature and makes them new and and almost dream-like. These photos are my favourites because they encapsulate the temporary narrative, a nonexistent story line that only lives for a split moment. His use of strange locations, like forests and abandoned places, captures the real essence of surrealism photography and what it was made for.
Manuel Archain Manuel Archain was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1983, and his personal photography projects are becoming internationally renowned and has been exhibited in Argentina, Colombia, Spain, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Peru, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Chile, USA and UK.
“Reality, is something so fragile… There’s a subtle line between our world and whatever else exists above and beyond us. We have to question everything, every single day.”
I like his photography because he focuses on more of a society-driven and political effect, whereas other photographers focus on more creative aspects rather than controversial. He uses gender roles and expectations to humanize his edited photographs, which show a more raw and realer effect.
My Favourite Photographs
I really like these photographs because they can mean so many different things and ideas than they intended to when he created them. The second photograph, to me, seems like it links to how women used to be looked at as and treated like. As the woman looks like a 50s housewife who is trying to fly away, she is still tied down to her "duties" in the kitchen, as it used to be. The first photograph shows people trapped in see through cases, which indicates the idea that they are kept in their own world, oblivious to what is going on around them.
Cloning
I cloned Renee so that she will look like she is in a line with herself. I added the black and white filter so that the little mistakes are harder to see, and the shadows stand out more. I used a cutting-out tool to copy and paste the different positions on to the same photograph to look like there is a line of the same person.
Flying
I used the stool to make it look like she is floating, so that I could then edit the stool out. The positions she was in were very important because I wanted her to look like a superhero, despite the given circumstances we had to work with.
The Edits
I think that the first edited photograph is the better out of the two because, even though it was my first edit, it looks quite real and she has blended in with the colour scheme in the original photograph. The second photograph is the worst because the cropping and feathering I edited it with is wrong, and the effects I used behind it don't fit in well with the photograph itself.
Shoot 1 Plan
For my first shoot in Weird and Wonderful, I will be using certain sweets and objects involved with food and drink to create a world made of sugar and sweets. I will also take pictures of people to minimize them, and then edit them inside of the foods and objects. I will be using snippets from The Hansel and Gretel House and cakes designed to look like it, to inspire and change a few of my photographs, and make it seem more realistic.
My Ideas 1. I want to use jellies to use as traps and seats. I have the idea of minimising someone, and then placing them on top of the jelly, as if they are sat on top of a mountain.
Faces in sweets and sweet faces on humans Human face in sweet house - looking out of windows Human holding large lollipop Clone out of different windows / doors Humans eating the house / parts of the house Line of jelly babies and mini humans in the line too Surfing on sweets climbing up sweets (absail)
I want to create an ocean display using different flavoured milkshakes, and using sweets that I have shaped like surfboards to make it look like people are surfing on an ocean of milkshakes.
The First Shoot - Jelly Mountain For my first shoot, I used jellies, and edited people to make them appear smaller than the dessert.
To create the effect of the people on top of the jelly, I asked Liam to sit on the edge of the table, and look scared, as if he was falling off. I decided to use the last photograph to edit because it shows the most emotion, and really looks like he's about to fall off.
Editing
On the first edit of this shoot, I used a picture of jelly off of the internet, just to show the idea of what I want this shoot to look like.