For my initial research I will start by looking into Surrealism photographers. At the moment I have only one photographer in mind that I want to look up. He is called Erik johansson. I choose Erik johansson because he's an amazing photographer that captures surrealism that I can gain a lot of inspiration from for my own work. I looked into one of Eric's powerful surrealism image which is all about magic. I choose this photographer because he displays different ways of looking at surrealism and the magic found within.
When I was given the theme, my initial thoughts were more strongly towards magic and tricking the eye as I thought I could explore these better. After thinking about the project title more thoroughly I realise there are so many routes for my work to go down such as illusions, dreams and fairy tales with surrealism.
To show progression through my work I will start by photographing the basic scenes of our school. I will then develop these images further by taking more ideas from them and editing them. I then hope to venture from within Stretford high school to larger places such as Manchester.I already have a lot of ideas running through my head for this project which will hopefully propel me in the right direction.
I would like to experiment with a wide range of techniques within my work. I would like to try use a fish eye lens to see the effects that I can create with it. I will also try to push myself to be more creative within Photoshop to touch up my images. I will also definitely experiment with using both colour and the tool where you crop the images photography.
I have a couple of months to produce my product of work towards a production of my final piece. I am to complete my initial research within the first week and start photographing by the second week in order to give me the time I need to show progression. I will then have an eight hour practical exam where I will print and mount my final photos.
As my project progresses I would use annotations throughout my product labeling my ideas and development clearly. This will also help me to reflect on the work I produce. I will mainly seek advice from my teachers and my peers on how to make my work better, as I’m always aiming to push myself to new levels and I believe these are the people to go to. After the creation of my final piece I will write a final evaluation on the project as a whole, reflecting on what went well and what I could do differently or change given the time
Mindmap
Surrealism? "Surrealism aimed to revolutionize human experience, rejecting a rational vision of life in favor of one that asserted the value of the unconscious and dreams. The movements poets and artist found magic and strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny, the disregard and the unconventional."
In my opinion this means painting or capturing your dreams and your dreams revealing what you are as a person.
Salvador Dali
In this photo the landscape is painted very realistically on a small scale what makes the clock look very big.In the back ground he chooses a cold blue sky to blend in with the hot dark brown.This is very Uncanny because its a basic clock but its melting over the landscape and also it looks as if the the clock is flying and this links with the saying "time flying" furthermore the clock is massive and taking over the beautiful scene of the landscape.This is a dream state because it is unusual for a beautiful real landscape getting taken over by an uncanny weird melting clock with numbers melting and flying out of it, its very unexpected to see.Their are many contrast for example the hard edged cube going into the soft blue sky and the soft melting clock, melting on the hard brown cube. In my opinion the moth has eaten away a bit of the clock and the wasp is chasing the moth maybe Salvador has an phobia of moths and wasp and when people see this picture he wants them to feel the same.Dalí’s painting, The persistence of memory is a striking example of a surrealist artwork: the ants and melting clocks are familiar objects placed in a strange and odd setting. Dalí wants to twist our usual ideas about what is ‘normal’ and ‘accepted.’
Moodboard
Magical eyes
Magical mirrors
5c's on Laura Williams picture:
Context-Laura Williams is 22 years old shes been photographing for pretty much all her life for about 10 years now!Shes always been interested in art.She grew up in a small village surrounded by fields and trees so shes strongly inspired by nature and this helps her a lot in her work.Shes spend 3 years in Brighton studying graphic design,its by the sea!What an amazing place to study arts. Comment-I am fascinated by this photo on the imagination and creativity she has used to capture this photo. The use of the mirror creates an unrealistic reflection and plays on your mind. The photo is a full shot as it shows clearly what is happening in this photo. Composition-Laura has used medium depth of field in this picture as she has only focused on the girl and the mirror and has slightly blurred out the bushes and trees in the background. Laura has used simple colors in this picture such as black and green, this is effective because it creates a Gothic, dark atmosphere, I also think she has done this to freak us out a little as the mirror is covering her body which is pretty clever. Content-This picture has been taken outdoor in a large field and to me this is trying to suggest loneliness and also emptiness. The shapes in this picture is a circle that is representing the main focus in the picture, as that is where the reflection is happening and our eyes get pinched straight into it. Connection-This inspires me because In this image there is a reflection in the mirror of a empty field this suggests that there is peacefulness yet there is hints of loneliness and fear in the image. In the reflection the grass looks exactly as it would if the girl wasn't there. This picture is realistic as you can see how clear the grass is as that is what the camera is focused on. In my opinion this picture is quite freaky because her body is covered with a mirror and the reflection of the field is in it which to me is suggesting emptiness
1st shoot
1st shoot in Longford Park & school
Progression to my final image
Final image
I have used drawing with light here as I have put down the brightness and also rubbed out the bottom half of the "ghost" , making it look like it is coming through the frame.
Rene Magritte
Form The artist seems to use bright colours like Green,Blue and White and by doing this it catches our eye.The way he has used these colours is that he has used 1/3 grass and the trees go up to half way of the picture and the next 2/3 is sky with a few clouds.The shape I can call out is the square/two rectangles within the persons hands and it unusually shows trees instead of the persons body and face.Furthermore the outline of white bounces from the white off the clouds to help it stand out also the dark tone in the center of the picture suggest the picture goes far away Context Rene Magritte created this picture Magritte's trademark is his wacky and surreal montages of imaginary landscapes, with oddly proportioned people thrown in here and there. He said: “Creating a montage has always been one of my favorite creative outlets. I hope you have as much fun looking at my work as I’ve had creating it!He was born on the 21st of November 1898 in Lessines Belgium until he unfortunately died on the 15th of August 1967 in Schaerbeek Belgium.
Content This is a Surrealistic painting and there is a man(in a bowler hat which implies the time this was created) reading a newspaper and covering his face and on the newspaper it is showing the background maybe trying to hide the dark secrets of the man.This is very unusual.In my opinion this is a landscape picture and this represents surrealism,furthermore it implies that at the time peoples dreams would come to life in a painting. Process To make this picture the materials used are a newspaper/book and a man with a nature background and when this picture was taken you would've seen the book with no nature background.So to get the background onto the book Rene must've used the clone tool on Photoshop.
Mood This image makes me feel weird about it as it is unusual to me. What makes the image different is that it's unique and you don't get many artists like this, different people may have different feelings about this image depending on what they think it represents. In this image the artist has used solid colors as the sky is a solid blue and the and the grass is a solid dark green, this then puts a unique contrast on the imaged from the sky to the grass.Furthermore in my opinion this photo makes me feel empty,hollow and quirky because you cannot really tell what is going on in the photo also this creates more of an eere atmosphere.
Overall in my opinion I like this piece of work and I am going to use this to inspire my work.
Shoot 2
I needed to take pictures of the model and multiple plain pictures of the background as in Photoshop I had to perfectly line up the pictures so through the news paper you can see the view of whats behind the model.
Final outcome
In addition to this picture I am going to try and develop my ideas by using mirrors creating optical illusions and manipulate photos in photoshop to push my grade up as high as possible. I have also used drawing with light as I have copied the picture and rubbed out a layer with the eraser tool to make it look like you can see through the picture.
3rd shoot
Final outcome
Final gallery
Evaluation
My project theme is Weird and Wonderful I chose to do illusions because in my opinion this was the theme I knew was much more capable for props and creative ideas, therefore I think I can achieve a good grade in this project. Furthermore I only need to use my imagination to develop my skills in Photoshop to try and trick your mind as you don't know the process to the final photo.
A big problem I encountered throughout this project was all the writing that comes along with it because to be honest I didn't really want to do it and put all my effort in at first, as I thought photography was all about pictures but now I realized its not and now I actually feel passionate about this subject and for me to do my best I need to put all my effort in no matter the circumstances to get the grade I want (6).
If I had the chance to do this project again I would stick to the theme I pick 100% but as you can see I didn't really stick to one theme it is kind of random but they all link in a similar way.
The part I enjoyed the most in the project is Photoshop as I manipulated pictures, selecting areas by taking the photographs apart and recreating them to add a peculiar and weird perspective to my photos,for example using the patch tool to make an object in my pictures look like it is levitating, However it took a few attempts to get the level I wanted.
Different techniques I've used in Photoshop: - Magnetic lasso - Blur - Brightness & contrast - Saturation - Crop -Stamp -patch -Hardness of brush -Magic wand -Clone