How can the use
of repetition make a photograph seem surreal?
I decided to centre my essay on how the use of repetition can make a
photograph seem surreal. I researched various photographers throughout my
'layers' (coursework) project and found that a lot of the photographs looked
very surreal. Surrealism came about in the 20th century and aimed to show the
creative potential of the subconscious mind. Many surrealist works contain
dream like elements and juxtaposed concepts. Most early surrealist photography
works such as Man Ray used multiple exposures and solarisation to distort
images and create a sense of unease. I hope to expand my knowledge of using layers and broaden my
understanding of how composition is used effectively. Surrealism also
offers the chance to incorporate an element of chance and spontaneity which
helps to reflects the abstract and unpredictable nature of dreams.
The first photographer I researched was Melissa Madison. Melissa Madison
is a photographer from Nashville who mainly photographs her friend’s in a
candid fashion. She has never professionally studied photography, her passion
for photography developed while she attended the University of Kansas, as she
wished to photo document her group of friends as she found them unique and inspiring,
the candid elements of her photos adds an element of fun and spontaneousness to
her work.
The image
below is a double exposure of someone holding their hands over their face and
then removing them, the main focus of this image is the man, and the background
is out of focus which focuses your attention towards him. Also this dark hair
contrasts with the light background so your eyes are immediately drawn to his
face.
The image
below is a series showing a girl walking across a wall, it was created by
taking a series of photos of a girl walking and then editing them together in
Photoshop. The contrast of the girls dress with the light background is very
vivid and the image has a blue tone to it which gives it a calming effect, this
calming effect is emphasised by the subjects care free stance, she appears to be
almost skipping across the wall. The girl’s dark hair contrasts heavily with
the white shed and thus immediately focuses your attention on her.
My aim is to create my own interpretation of
Melissa Madison’s work, particularly the girl walking across the wall. I will
be focusing on the layering element of the photograph and I intend to try and
recreate the photo documentary aspect of them by not making them look overly
posed for, I will get my models to take a more natural stance and try and
create a sense of realism within the way the photographs of them walking looks.
I aim to capture human behavior and then edit it to create a sense of
surrealism. I will also try to capture human behavior by using a less direct
approach; this will let me see weather of not the image will look more
effective if it appears to not be set up.
This was
the first shoot I did on this topic; I plan on editing them together into a
sequence similar to that of Melissa Madisons work. I chose a light coloured
fence and bright coloured garages so that they would contrast with the dark
colours my model is wearing. Overall I am pleased with his practices shoot
however I plan on re-shooting on a less windy day as it caused the tripod to
move which means it will be harder to edit these photos into a sequence.
This was
my first attempt at merging the images, I layered all of the photos in the
sequence on top of each other in Photoshop and then removed the background
around each of the images and moved the opacity to 100% so that that they were
not faded. However due to the fact that the tripod moved halfway through, the
subject of the photos appears bigger in some than others.
I believe
this edit to be more effective than the previous one because it is simpler,
there are fewer copies of the male and he appears the same height in all of
them.
The
second photographer I researched was, Man Ray (August
27th 1890 – November 18th 1976) he was an American surrealist
photographer and artist who first began painting and then taught himself
photography in order to create the art he could not paint. He was best known
for his fashion photography, but became a significant contributor to the
surrealist movements. In his work he used a lot of solarisation techniques, by
solarising an image the dark tones appear lighter and the dark tones appear
lighter.
The image
below is simple but very effective, the grainy black and white and duplication
of the eyes make the image seem almost haunting. The manipulation of this image
is subtle which gives it a sense of realism.
The image below appears to have 3 faded faces in different angles layered over the original subjects face; I think that this is effective because it shows the 'dream like' quality that is commonly found within surrealist photographs.
Below are
the portraits I took in the studio after researching Man Rays work. I decided
to use a mirror as an experiment to see if it would work as an alternative to
manipulating everything only in photo shop.
Overall I
am pleased with these edits, I think that they look a lot more effective in
black and white as I found the colour to be distracting; also by being in black
and white they are a lot more similar to the style of Man Ray.
The white line in the image below helps to create a better
sense of symmetry and balance in this image.
The image
below is one of my favorite edits from this set. The darkness of the image in
the mirror reflects that of the dark tones used in Man Rays work. I duplicated
the images and reversed one of the layers so that it created a reflection of
her head, at a glance this is not obvious and the 4 arms help create a surreal
effect.
In the image below I
duplicated the eyes and placed them slightly below her actual eyes, I think the
simplicity of it makes it effective. I also made the black and grey tones
darker so that it would reflect Man Rays work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_Ray
http://melissamadisonfuller.com/
http://www.dummymag.com/photos/2011/08/23/flickr-photographer-of-the-month-melissa-madison/
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-ray-man.htm
http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3716
http://melissamadisonfuller.com/
http://www.dummymag.com/photos/2011/08/23/flickr-photographer-of-the-month-melissa-madison/
http://www.theartstory.org/artist-ray-man.htm
http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=3716
http://arthistory.about.com/od/modernarthistory/a/Surrealism-Art-History-101-Basics.htm
