Whilst attending my last two years of secondary school, through my participation in a GCSE Art & Design course, I was exposed to the work of many photographers. This allowed me to discover my admiration for various styles and genres (eg. Surrealism, Abstract Photography, Studio Photography, Portraiture, Landscape, etc.) I spent the majority of my personal time either in various outside locations (usually out in nature) or shooting within a homemade studio I had put together. Through the discovery of sharing platforms such as Flickr, I developed an appreciation and preference for digital photography – this is due, in part, to the contemporary nature and media dominance that is associated with the style of photography. In addition, I enjoyed how easily a digital image could be transferred and then manipulated using digital manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop, with which, I became moderately proficient.
My work as part of my GCSE course also opened my eyes to new avenues of photography. For example, I researched a photographer, Bryan Durushia, who incorporates digital manipulation into his photography, giving individuals strange and unique forms – achieving a surreal effect.
My work on the course prompted me to research and analyse his work in detail – this gave me a better understanding of intentions an artist may have, the reason(s) why they may introduce an element such as surrealism into an image and the impact that it creates. Using such research, I planned and defined a similar concept, of which, this image is a product.
From the images that I created around this concept, this one I have selected as my favourite due to my admiration of the composition and the overall connotations it may suggest. I decided to draw from the work of Durushia by emulating the way he titles his work in order to suggest a certain tone or theme surrounding the image. I named this image ‘Not One Of Us Is The Same’ in order to highlight the contrast between the row of regular apples and the subject (as well as to convey a message that I myself believe to be true of modern society, using my artwork to communicate this idea).
RECENT WORK
When considering ideas for experimentation in surrealism, my mind immediately gravitates to applying this theme to a portrait. This is the path I took when creating these final images (made to be submitted for assessment for a college project) - shooting and directing with a model and then compositing the images with digital smoke effects using Adobe Photoshop.
For the aforementioned project, I was also required to create commercial images that could be used to advertise a perfume bottle. In addition, I was to create a composite bottle image that included a model portrait. To accomplish this I selected the bottle image that I deemed had been produced to a professional standard and decided what elements of that image were necessary to meet this standard, I then repeated this judgement process for my portrait shots and then considered the best way to combine these into one image. After much deliberation, I then implemented the plan I had set out to realise.
IN CONCLUSION
I have inadvertently found myself exploring surrealist representation of themes in images while also experimenting in more traditional areas and genres such as studio photography, landscape, nature and wildlife photography and commercial photography. That being said (as well as recognizing that my photographic and digital design career has only just started), I believe that surrealist photography, as a genre, will always occupy a special place in my body of work.