In conclusion of my surrealism project, I have completed a total of 10 photographic explorations through shoots alongside another body of work that was created from the brief of computer, physical and print experiments. The final images from each photoshoot were a combination of successful and unsuccessful with specific images resulting from shoots 7, 8, 9 and a few from 4 or 5 being my favourites. Moreover, shoot 4 and 5 were of the same subject matter with one being in a studio environment and the other being in a non-studio setting. The reasoning for this was to explore the ways in which the inspirational photographer for the shoot personally worked; Yorch Miranda captures his surreal photographs in a non-studio setting hence my reasoning for shoot 5. Depsite this, I wanted to complete a version of it in a anomaly free studio set up so that I had more control over the lighting and other such significant factors. This is evidenced through some of my lesser successful images depicted in the work diary of the non-studio setting of shoot 5 which were less aesthetically pleasing than the bright white backdrop and flash from the soft box lighting. Additionally, shoot 7 created two photographs that are personal favourites of mine in reference to aesthetic but it also resulted in a few photographs that relied heavily on the surreal connotations and inferences of meaning through the use of props such as a butterfly and empty photo frame. Photoshoot 7 created some of my more professional looking photographs that show my strong influences from both surrealism and the techniques of high fashion but also depicted my sinister interpretations of the surreal as I am heavily influenced by the work of Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman. For instance, I took into account the setting and was able to create a sinister surreal final photographic outcome that utilised the weather and influenced my camera settings and use of flash. To expand, the fog that was present in shoot 7 was exaggerated when I captured the image with flash and later exaggerated in post-production as the moisture in the air reflected the lighting as was my intention. In relation to photoshoot 8, however, I believe it one of my more successful as a result of the difficult and aesthetically pleasing editing that it required and showcased as opposed to the photographs themselves pre-editing. Furthermore, the final photographs of shoot 8 also demonstrated how I was influenced by the conceptual artists John Stezaker who is an extremely influential surrealist but also how I adapted his ideas and techniques to represent my own way of approaching photographic art. For example, Stezaker uses photographs and postcards that are not his own images and combines them possibly physically whilst I used family photographs alongside my own photographs and cohesively stitched them together using the digital editing software Photoshop CC 2014. I also intended on using old family photographs as one half of my final outcomes to create more connotations and references to myself within my work as I believe that both rely heavily on one another. Photoshoot 9 was also one of my most successful photographic bodies of work in that the technique is inventive and unusual and displayed my ability to create a strong final image whilst employing physical experimentation, such as collage, photomontage, layering, which is often used by surreal photographers and artists. The extended editing process of using digit software to change the filter and then, using a scalpel, cutting away the areas that I deemed important before layering sheets of red behind them to create a dynamic yet simple final image. I think that the idea of combining physical and computer experimentation has become a technique that I enjoy and has influenced my whole body of work cohesively and also displays my strong feelings about embedding meaning into connotations within my work.
Despite this, there were some shoots that were particularly unsuccessful as a consequence of lack of experience. For example, a few pieces from shoot 5 were not representative of my desired level of work due to the poor lighting conditions and such. One specific example being the subject sat on the arm of the clock as either the image was too dark, too noisy as a result of increased ISO or disrupted by the reflection of the flash firing. In addition to this, photoshoot 6, whilst demonstrating difficult editing skills and some good examples, the difficulty of shooting on location and using models who have little or no prior experience of acting made the final images less surreal high fashion, like the work of Tim Walker, as was desired.
As a result, I believe that my photoshoots do create a mostly cohesive final body of work when taking into account skills used, techniques employed and the constant conformity to surrealism and high fashion influences even if not explicitly but instead implicitly. My reasoning for this is because specific ideas are replicated throughout such as always attempting to create an atmosphere through meaning within my work; whilst the atmosphere is not consistent in all shoots, each individual shoot has a mood. For instance, photoshoot 7 and 10 both have very sinister and emotive undertones that the audience can decode because I placed hidden messages relating to my personal life and experience in each one as I strongly believe in the surrealist Dada movement idea of art being not solely for aesthetic but also to evoke something in an audience. My life is constructed significantly around peers, mental health and poetry but not only in reference to literature but also to the artistic forms of poetry in art and photography as such I want my works to reflect that. On the other hand, shoots 4 and 5 are more lighthearted and reflect humour through surrealism and as such are an attempt to create that mood. Furthermore, the physical manipulation is evident in photoshoots 2, 4, 5 and 9 in various ways. I used collage and photomontage alongside miniaturism by cutting out subjects and placing them in scenarios like Yorch Miranda, Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida or Slinkachu. Moreover, I also used the same editing software and used similar techniques in the majority of my photoshoots; for instance, I often adjust the brightness and contrast values in all of my photographs and this is a constant despite the other editing techniques not always replicated. Most significantly, the body of work is cohesive as the ideas have originated from research combined with my own personal ideas to form a surreal exploration that also depicts experimentation.
To expand, my project has been dramatically influenced by my research into photographers and conceptual artists within the fields of surrealism and fashion with many at a cross-section between the two. Initially, the contextual research into surrealism itself, as a movement, lead to my exploration of Dada and its members who lead an artistic revolution that resulted in straying away from art as a depiction of aesthetic beauty but instead to challenge and create meaning. From Dada, surrealism was developed and expanded and allowed for many rebellions in the art world. Moreover, many photographers within the field of surrealism are also influenced by the original surreal masters such as Rene Magritte and this is evidenced through the work of photographers such as Christopher McKenney and is also replicated in my own work; this specific example being in photoshoot 7. Additionally, through my research I was able to understand my own aesthetic and influences more so by which works excited me to start my own project. I therefore began narrowing down my ideas of how important the fashion element was and realised that elements such as lighting and composition would be all that I was taking from it whilst the majority of my ideas were surreal based. Also, research was important in that I rediscovered the work of John Stezaker and his work influenced me extremely in my physical and computer experiments as I am a fan of blurring the lines between mediums and challenging how far the can each be adapted.
Throughout the course of my investigation I have learnt what my individual style is and that I am more interested in the surreal concepts than those of fashion which is in direct contrast to what I had initially planned. For example, I had stated that I would be exploring fashion with elements of surreal composition. Despite this, I soon realised that I was more interested by the connotations and meaning of the work created by surrealists. However, I did conform to some elements from my initial plan that were vital to my learning process from my photographic explorations. For example, I did explore ideas around both "reality and unreality" and "emotions" within specific shoots; photoshoot 6 was an exploration of blurring reality with unreality through editing and costume whilst photoshoot 10 was a journey through mental health and emotions. I have also learnt that I should not always confine myself to the studio for my photography as shooting on locations can provide more interesting final outcomes and lead to my improvement as a photographer using a camera in the real world with unpredictable elements such as lighting and other factors.
If I were to have selected my final portfolio using only some of my final photographic outcomes then I would have focused predominately on the previously outlined favourite photoshoots; the favourite photoshoots being 7, 8 and 9 as they are the most professional of my work and the most representative of what I wanted to achieve. However, selecting my final portfolio was difficult as the individual photoshoots do not explicitly form a cohesive body of work but do implicitly through techniques used and the themes of them. Moreover, the works from those shoots depict my aesthetic choices and as such convey part of me in them which I think is important in surreal photography.
If I had more time then I would consider completing secondary shoots to ensure that each of my successful photoshoots had the opportunity to create individual series' and so that my work would appear more explicitly cohesive to an audience. For instance, some themes that I focused on were gender, identity, family life and societal aspects with one main example being photoshoot 9 were I focused on how identity and anonymity are formed through our surroundings. If I had the opportunity, I would extend my ideas and technique from shoot 9 as it was both enjoyable and fitted an aesthetic decision that I was pleased with. If this were the case I would study into John Baldessari and Mauren Broadbeck as I discovered them after competing the shoot but I would like to experiment more so than demonstrated already. Examples of their work that I would take inspiration from can be seen below and were chosen as they accurately depict how potent an image can become once the supposed main subject of the image is removed such as the identity of the portrait or the main feature of the landscape.
(John Baldessari)
(Mauren Broadbeck)
