Art Movement: Surrealism

Facts:

• surrealism - 'surreal' - not real - 'ism' - movement
• abstract
• fantasy
• unique
• wild
• the movement began in the 1920s and was founded by Andre Breton
• the pictures can be seen as unnerving 
• surrealism came from dadaism and dada
• dada means 'nothing'
• exploration of the unconventional 

Artists:

Giorgio De chirico

Salvador Mali

Max Ernst

Man Ray

Andre Kertesz

Erik Johansson 

The image above could show that the couple could be at the beach together, which denotes as tranquil and relaxing. However the swimming pool section on the right denotes the deep end of a pool which ennote the couples feelings mentally like with maybe stress and being in the 'deep end of life' feeling like there under water. Also the light at the end of the picture denotes a light that is used in swimming pools that they are walking to together, i believe it connotes the end of the stress and feeling under water, this could be shown by them walking towards it. Thomas Barbey is the creator of this photo and i think is creating a visual representation of perhaps a mental feeling that many people can relate to feeling like problems are drowning them. I can also denote that the colour is black and white this could connote the tone of the photo as being depressing, however this black and white enhances the light at the end of the swimming pool thus connoting that the light could connote hope and that is why they are walking towards it.  

The image on the right denotes a man in a buisness suit walking up stairs that are in  a unnatural shape and seem to carry on for ever. I believe the picture denotes a business man confused with his career and doesn't know where to go so is going round in circles. this may relate to many men in work. the square could show the job ladder. This photo by Erik Johansson confuses me with the shape of the staircase which is not normal. Also the man is confused which i believe Erik wants to do. I can denote that the Erik Johansson used a tool to brighten up the top centre of the staircase and the clouds above it. I can connotes with that it may mean that the centre with the most brightness could resemble the height of the job ladder as it is seen as maybe 'heavenly' with the light connotes. Also the setting of this object is set in the middle of what seems to be a desert this could denote with the fact that his job loop is his and only his thus meaning that only himself can get to the top and get out of this loop.

Recreating:

I have decided to recreate this photo as it interests me as it has inside meanings of personal confusion. I know that I would have to be in a area where it is secluded and has a prominent skyline with the sun beaming down or if not I would use photoshop and add a bight layer at the top of the picture, I do know a location around where I live where the setting can be used to recreate this picture. I would need a person who could be my business man who is standing on the unusual object. Also I would have to edit my setting using photoshop to make it brighter and enhance the colours. I would probably have to make the saturation warmer by I tiny bit aswell to brighten it up also. The main object and the attraction of the photo I would have to maybe find a singular stairway and duplicate the layers and use free transform the layers into a odd shape. Also I would have brighten one side of the object to show the sun brightening up the side and with the other side I would darken by using the paint tool and increasing the opacity of it to make it look like a shadow. 

















What Did I Do:
I used a cannon camera to take the photos I needed. to recreate this photo. Firstly I found a location to use as my background. I had made sure that the sky was clear and that the clouds are visible. I took around 20 photos that day all mostly similar. I ultimately choose this photo below as I believed it showed the background very well and is bright enough with large clouds in a large number. I believed this picture was very good me to put my unusual object on.

Secondly I needed a male model in a work attire so I choose to use myself as a model. I achieved this by using the self timing feature on my Canon camera. I set it for 10 seconds so I could get myself into position. I set the camera on a park bench and flipped my screen to see if I was in a good position. Once I set the camera in the good position I  set the timer and rushed on top a seesaw as I believed I could cut my self out of it well to put on my object. I took several attempts at this but I chose the one below as I believe my positioning is what is needed.

For my unusual object I planned to find a stone staircase but unfortunately I couldn't find one that I believed was good enough. However I had an idea that if I use a picture with a wall with a pretty pattern on it, it would fit well. In town I found a wall that I believed I could crop and move as unusual object. I took around 15 photos of either stairs or walls but I believed this picture below was the better one to edit.  

Editing

The initial idea for my editing was, the fact that I was gonna use the wall and duplicate four times and flip two of them to give inside effect that I was trying to recreate but with a different style. I was going to cut myself out and shrink me and put myself on top of my object when my object was done. However a technical issue with photoshop at the time made me not able to use photoshop. However I used an app on my phone called Photoshop Mix which meant I could mix layers with my hands which I intended to do. Firstly I set my background as the landscape of the field. Secondly I cut out a rectangle shape out of the wall I took a photo off. After doing that I duplicated that photo for times and flipped two of them. I then put all the in front of the background. I moved them into a square shape and making the shape smaller to make it look like its in the picture. Thirdly I cropped myself out of the photo I took, I had to zoom in to cut out all the edges of the background on the photo. I then secondly I shrank and put myself on top of the object and made sure I was fully on the object. Lastly I put a dramatic warm filter on the photo as the photo I tried to recreate had a warm sense to it so I used this filter.

Evaluation

I believe the photo I created is very similar to the photo I wanted to recreate. The main problem had is the stairs but however my replacement I think is good and is keeping with what I was trying to recreate. The position of my model I believe connotes a business man at the top of his career seeing what he would do now and not wanting to go down the object which represents a downward career spiral which he does not wanna do. I believe my attempt was good and linked to the photo I was going to recreate.