In a recent study conducted by doctors at Rutgers University in New Jersey, United States bases on  the topic “science behind the love” and reveals that there are ‘three stages‘ behind the process and development of love when experienced in the connection of human beings. Each stage involves different types of chemical reactions within the body (specifically the brain), along with that there are different hormones present in the body helping to excite all these three stages (lust, attraction, and attachment) – separately as well as collectively. This article really helped me understand that there is a science behind love. This, in response, underlines the dual definitions of love as an emotional response and a chemical reaction.

Stage One – Lust 

Definitions:

“An intense sexual desire or appetite”

“an uncontrolled or illicit sexual desire or appetite; lecherousness”

“A passionate or overmastering desire or craving”

Lust is said to be the initial stage of involvement in love. The feel of lust is backed up or instigated by the sexual hormones within the body: Oestrogen and Testosterone are the two basic types of hormones present equally in men and women’s body that excites the feeling of lust within the brain. A limbic processes in the brain in response to lust have health-promoting and stress-reducing potential. In addition, lust, love, and pleasure ensure the endurance of mankind through mating and reproduction. The mating process is a discrete interrelated process initiating attraction.

Stage Two – Attraction

Definition:

“The act, power, or property of attracting”

Second stage of acquiring love is attraction. This phase is said to be one of the beautiful moments of life. This is the phase when a person actually starts to feel the love. His or her impatience for attracting somebody leads to excitement, and the individual is left with no other option but to only think about that specific person. Scientifically, it has been concluded in the study that there are three more sub-stages of attraction that portray drastic changes over the individual’s personality. The three sub-stages of attraction are adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin.

Adrenaline

Scientists have elaborated that initial symptoms of attraction toward someone involves: Stress response, Increase in adrenalin and cortisol and Attitude reaction.

It has been specified in the study that any person who falls in love will acquire a slight or drastic change in the above stated three factors. Furthermore, attraction is one of the charming effects of life and slight changes in personality are not only natural but are also positive. For this reason, whenever you bump into your admiration, your senses decline and your reactions increase drastically, reason as to why you feel nervous, on-edge, and other emotions resultant of making a good impression on someone.

Dopamine

To follow the theoretical research, a physical experiment was also conducted to prove the veracity of physical evidence. The brains of a new couple struck with love were observed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRIs). It was genuinely shocking to discover the minds of both male and female have large spikes of neurotransmitter dopamine, a chemical that stimulates the feeling of pleasure within the body. After this discovery, scientists described both the male and female minds as “equally high as if they had taken cocaine or somewhat similar drug” Dopamine is a natural stimulant providing you with ecstasy. The couple furthermore revealed the following facts about themselves from the time they feel in love until the date they were examined: a surge of energy, an observed  significant decrease in appetite, sleep deprivation which has occurred previous to falling in love and that a persons attention has been more focused than ever before. This notion further elaborates on the connection between scientific discovery against the human perception of love. The common phrase ‘love is a drug’, or similar to that, ensures this comparison as a similar instance, as it ha genuinely even proved that each feeling subsides to the same emotion counteracting the admirable feelings of love as what feels like a ‘drug’.

Serotonin

Serotonin has been found as one of the most important chemicals involved for exciting the feeling of love. Serotonin initially diverts your mind and bounds you to think about your lover and nothing else. It becomes a path for the mind. Sandra Langeslag and her colleagues (2012) report serotonin levels are different in men and women when in love. The men in love had lower levels of serotonin, while the women reveal the opposite. The participants in love reported engrossing in thought about their beloved 65% of their day.

Stage 3: Attachment 
When a couple passes through the above two stages of love successfully, the time of bonding with each other becomes powerful. Attachment is a bond helping the couple to take their relationship to advanced levels. It instigates the feeling of bearing children and falling in love with them wholeheartedly.

While investigating the “attachment factor,” scientists discovered two sub-stages involved. The two sub-stages are hormones in the body that attract an individual to retaining the feeling of love with his or her partner. The two hormones, namely, oxytocin and vasopressin are discussed below.

Oxytocin

Oxytocin, also known as “the cuddle hormone,” is one of the most powerful hormones released equally by men and women, especially during orgasm. Oxytocin (OT) formulates the depth of love and forges the attachment the partner. The study was second by another research based on “sexual activities between a couple and the out-comes.” The more a couple opts for sex, the more substantial the bond of attachment is. OT plays a key role in affiliation and attachments in humans.

Similarly, oxytocin helps build a strong bond between a mother and an infant during the time of birth. In addition, it is such a sensitive hormone that it automatically signals the breast to release the milk upon the baby’s sound or touch. OT mediates specific female behaviors such as lactation and parturition. Social interaction with your loved one requires affective “mind reading,” or interpreting faint cues from your partner. Humans infer internal feelings of people from external expressions to predict the other person’s behavior. In a double-blind study of 30 healthy volunteers the administered oxytocin caused a substantial boost in the ability of the individuals to interpret cues from the region of the other person’s eyes. OT improves the interaction between couples by improving this social connection.

Vasopressin

Vasopressin, known as an anti-diuretic, it performs its operation along with the kidney, therefore controlling thirst. This hormone is released in major quantity quickly after sex. Although the brains of women and men are structurally different, they both secrete vasopressin from the pituitary gland. This is a vital role in copulation and partner preference (Hiller, 2004).

Vasopressin is termed as an important hormone to promote long-lasting relationships. A study in Biological Psychology (2012) assessed 37 couples by measuring neuropeptide blood levels. Results reveal vasopressin levels were in relation to the following:

• Interpersonal functioning
• Larger social network
• Greater spousal support
• More attachment security
• Relationship maintenance
• Less negative communication

The Bottom Line on The Science and Psychology of Love
Conclusively, love is seen to be one of the most delightful feelings of our lives. The truth behind the saying saying “love is blind” and “love is a drug” underlines the fact you will never know when your brain will encounter love. A significant number of chemical reactions are involved in instigating lust, attraction, attachment, and love between couples, concluding that science has yet discovered the exact bodily reactions behind the complexity of love.

The articles conclusion is  based upon the above studies: it is clearly said that falling in love involves “many mechanisms and chemicals within the brain” . You simply cannot avoid the sensual reaction of love. The partner doesn’t need to be sublime, sexy, or handsome—the feeling is deeper than a physical tactility.

“Love is a natural muse; you will puzzle over it, dream about it, and be lost in thought.”

Here is a link to the full Article: http://examinedexistence.com/why-we-fall-in-love-the-science-of-love/

Erik Johansson is a photographer from Sweden. He currently lives in Prague, Czech Republic and Sweden. Johansson’s goal in his photographs is to make them look as real as possible. A lot of Johansson’s work focuses on the environment and he also focuses on his editing, making images look surreal and stand out. I find his images look very fictional and are really well executed and most look very realistic with few looking a bit more animated. I find some of his work looks almost too perfect for it to actually be real but I guess that is the point of surrealism photography, it isn’t supposed to show reality. I like that his work comes from a vision that he has created.

Erik Johansson website: http://www.erikjohanssonphoto.com

I do like the work of Johansson and find it really brilliant the way that he edits his images to make them look almost like paintings. I like his style of creating new and strange photographs that don’t really make much sense but when looked at for long enough the meaning behind most of the images becomes clearer. I like that a lot of his focus is on the environment and shows how the human race treats its natural environment, which is something that I want to focus on in my own project. I find that he has some good images and then some amazing images that really show political views and are so powerful compared to some of his others.

This image is so powerful to me. I chose it because it really did stand out to me. It reminds me of how people will cover things up and choose to ignore it in the hopes that it will go away. However, climate change is something that is so prominent in every part of the world with 2015 being the hottest year on record. People don’t want to change their ways and so will just keep it up and try to overlook what is really happening to our natural world. I love this image as it really does embody this and speaks volumes of how we are as a human race. We tend to pretend that everything is fine and stay inside our bubbles without caring about anyone else or the world that we live in because it’s likely to not effect us. I loathe that people think this way and find this image so true and real to what people are actually like. I like the outfit that the model in the image as wearing as he looks like a normal person in his back garden trying to paint his fence or something.

I picked this image next as it goes well with the one above and how it shows climate change. I really like this image as it shows how people are trying to cover it up again and trying to, not fix it but to hide it away so that no one will notice or so that we don’t have to think about the damage that the human race has actually done to the natural world. This image is very artistic and looks almost like a painting. I like the position of the model as she stitches up the ruins that humans have done to the natural environment. This image really embodies what global warming is doing to our natural world and how badly the human race has affected the natural world too. I find this image really interesting and think it makes a huge impact on its spectators, which is something that I want to portray through my own images.

This image is strange and I don’t really get it but I like it. It really is a surrealist image and somehow it is really interesting. I wonder about how the subject is walking through his house from his kitchen through to his bedroom, as you can see through the little details on the floor. I like that the kitchen has that checked floor, which people often associate with a kitchen in a restaurant and so would easily be able to identify that as the subjects kitchen and then the little lamp next to the other door with little pictures and details on the door itself tells us that the room he is heading too is more personalised and most likely his room as he is also in his pyjamas/robe taking a hot drink with him to bed. I don’t quite understand why there is a landscape in the background, as if the man’s house is taking over that natural land and possibly how people are constantly building on top of the natural world. I really like this image anyway as it makes a normal/boring landscape image a whole lot more interesting and intriguing raising questions in the spectators minds making them want to figure out the meaning and what is going on in the image. I really like this as a surrealist image and the idea of making a landscape image more interesting, this is something I want to do in my own work incorporating different layers to make it more interesting for my spectator to look at.

Brian Oldham is a fine art photographer, born in Southern California and is 22 years old. He is currently living and working near Los Angeles. In most of his images Oldham becomes the subject and makes unique surrealist images. I really like Oldham’s style as it really is unique as well as fitting right into the realm of surrealism photographers. His work stands out and he freely experiments with different ways of photographing, which is something that I admire. His work is also very political and has clear messages that really make his work that much more interesting and captivating.

“My passion for creating blossomed at a young age as I experimented with self-portrature, and taught myself how to create freely. I make art to replace the words I cannot fathom; each thread holding a love for all things strange and beautiful. I strive to bring life to the quiet whispers at the back of my mind, to make whole the ghosts of my experiences.” – Brian Oldham

Brian Oldham website: http://brianoldham.format.com/#1

I really love the work of Brian Oldham and have previously looked at his work back in summer while finding inspiration for my performance photography experiments. I find that surrealism photography is often the most exciting, it brings to light the struggles that people are going through and shows the inner workings of photographers brains. I like that it brings out the weird and unusual as so many people tend to conform and just do what they are told and taught to believe in certain things, whereas surrealism challenges that and is so creatives and expressive. I find Oldham’s work so captivating to look at and I like to try and figure out how he made some of his images and how brilliant they are. With Oldham’s work he uses a lot of nature and the natural world which is common for surrealism photographers and something that I find really interesting and want to use within my own project.

Image Analysis

When having a look through some of Oldham’s work I came across a new project that he is in the process of creating that really stood out to me. This particular image is almost like a dig at the Catholic Church on how they do not accept gay people or gay marriage. I love that he has made this image and is making a series based upon this entitled ‘”For the Bible Tells Me So”‘. I love this as it is so true with religion that people often follow it without thinking for themselves and some tend to just passively accept this yet those that are ‘different’ or those people that don’t quite agree or fit in with the general expectations are thrown out and abandoned. I love the quote on the side of this image as it really tells a strong message with the image of Oldham being covered in blood. I feel that this image is powerful and actually quite a risky one. The topic of religion is so controversial and can be a really touchy subject for many people but that doesn’t seem to phase Oldham as he has a clear, strong message that he wants to get across. I love that his work is so politically driven and that he thinks deeper than many others. He wants to make a change in how we as  a society see one another and how we see gay people. The entire miss-en-scene of the photograph is just perfect with the almost halo light circle around his head as well as the subjects blank facial expression. This body of work is really powerful and it really does stand out to me as a excellent piece of artwork. I think that in this image the subject is naked as it shows vulnerability and that it is about the blood falling down his body rather than any sort of clothing that he is wearing. It also makes sense with the quote stating that “If a man lies with a man as he lies with a woman”. It’s as though he has been found while with a man and that he has the blood of the other man all over his body. I think that this image is so powerful and quite risky, which is something that will really stand out. It makes me want to find out more and to see the rest of the images that he creates for this particular project.

I chose this image because it made me think about how he edited it together. My guess is that he made an image of himself jumping in the air and positioned himself that way and in editing he turned the image upside down and turned it black and white. This image really interests me as it is as though he is falling out of the sky and bracing himself for when he hits the ground. I like the simplicity of having just a plain grey background as it allows the spectator to solely focus in on the subject rather than whatever is going on in the background of the image. This image could really mean anything and he could just be floating in the air. I like that the subject is centred in the middle of the square image, he stands out much more against the plain background too. Some part of me feels that this photograph shows conflicting views in his own head and it is sending him spiralling, which is why he is covering his face. The way he covers his face looks almost as if he was sitting that way and trying to take everything in until he was flung into the sky. Oldham’s work often features someone being suspend in the air and almost like they are floating.

This image interests me. The title of this project is ‘Pixels’ and is a work in progress. I like this idea of distorting someones face, it makes it more intriguing for the spectator making them want to find out more about who the person is and what they actually looks like. It brings together the digital age with reality and mixes them together by the distortion of their body and face. It is interesting to see these two image alongside one another, one being completely in focus where the spectator is able to see the subject with the other image being completely pixelated and covered up. I find that these images show how he lives in the real world and how in the digital world he becomes a load of pixels or how his identity doesn’t really matter in the digital world.

Christopher McKenney is a photographer of conceptual art and is from Pennsylvania. He specialises in horror surrealist photography. He also does live concert photography. I really like McKenney’s unique and strange style as it stands out and is really in your face photography. McKenney’s surrealist work creates a sense of dystopia and brings the spectator into a scary, more undesirable world with blood, cloaks and seemingly possessed souls. His work ranges from burning people to self-made ‘ghosts’ covered in blankets. McKenney started making photographs back in 2012 where he first found himself in the woods with a sheet, chair and a frame.

“I like taking away identity when photographing and to leave people thinking. I only make the photos I do to express myself and what other people see or think is up to them, as long as I make them feel anything I’m ok with that.” – Christopher McKenney

Christopher Mckenney website: http://www.christophermckenney.com

Originally when looking for surrealist photographers, I came across McKenney’s and really found them interesting. Back in the summer I took inspiration from this photographer and made my own surrealist images in the woods using a sheet to cover up the body of the model in the images. I found this really fun and different and something that I want to maintain and bring back to in my exam as a key project. McKenney’s work is unusual and, unlike most surrealism photographers work, his work is based on horror and he tends to make more dystopian images. I really like that his work is not something you would expect to see from surrealism photographers and he makes his images for himself and has his own meaning behind them. His images are so different and he allows the spectator to make their own interpretations on what is going on in the images.

This image stood out most to me. It’s a really in your face image that strikes its spectators straight away. I find it so interesting. The story that I create by looking at this image is that possibly an American man who works in an office, shown by the creased suit he is wearing, who is giving up and doesn’t want to carry on with his life anymore. It also makes me think of the American dream and how it might not be so perfect and all that it is cracked up to be with this man wanting to end his life. This image is actually quite sad and makes me wonder what went so wrong in the subjects life that he wants to end it. The composition of this image is also strong as the subject is right in the centre of the image with an equal amount of water beneath him with his reflection being shown clearly. I love McKenney’s work as it is so strange yet thought provoking making me want to find out more about him as a photographer and look at more of his work. To me the gun represents the pressure placed on many people to be successful making the subject feel extremely pressured and out of his depth, which is symbolises in with the water being up to his waist. The background looks dull and gives a more chilling atmosphere to add to the main prop of the gun in the image. I feel that this image is a great visual representation of how people may actually feel and does really embody the style of surrealism photography. Also, the reflection of the subject in the water adds more to the image and makes it that much more captivating, as if the subject could be staring through the flag that is tightly wrapped around his head and staring at his own reflection.

I chose this image next as I thought it linked with the previous one with the American flag.  I really like this image as it is unusual and looks almost as if a ghost is wondering around wearing a sheet. This style of pretending to be a ghost and wearing a sheet has been around for so long with little children dressing up that way for halloween. This images brings a twist to this halloween tradition as beneath the sheet/flag there isn’t a body and it looks as if possibly it is a real ghost with the body being invisible to its spectators. I find this image interesting and want to take inspiration from this for my own work on experimenting with how I edit my photographs and to try and use more unique and different styles of photography. This image is captivating as it is so strange and leaves the spectator guessing as to how the image was made and the message that is being brought across. Something that I also noticed has that the subjects hand is on his heart, which is something people do when their national anthem comes on as a sign of solidarity and being patriotic towards their country. I also think that the detail of this is evident with the American flag being what the subject is hiding under. I find it common in surrealism work for the subjects face to not be a prominent aspect of it and that is usually covered up, which is also show in the work of McKenney where you very rarely see the face of a subject.

I chose this image as I felt the colour of the red went well with the images above. I wanted to analyse this image because the red of the grass is so bizarre and something that you would never ever see normally. I like this as a surrealism image as it is odd and is interesting to look at. It makes me wonder why the person’s arm is spread across the middle of the image almost going all the way across. It makes me want to find out more about the person and why they are in that position. It could be the blood of people who have died either in battle or just in general and the arm represents the human form giving a hint to spectators that the colour red in the grass is actually symbolic of blood. I feel that this is the meaning behind this image as McKenney does specialise in horror surrealism so I wouldn’t be surprised if it was that. I find this image more simplistic than a lot of his images and doesn’t really need much work in terms of props and models as it is just one person’s arm and the red grass could have easily been changed while editing, possibly in PhotoShop.

 

After looking at the exam booklet I think that I have figured out what I want to focus on. I don’t want to do the same stuff that I have been doing for the personal study as I want to experiment and show different skills through editing and making images. I have looked into Surrealism photographers work and want to follow this path too as it is so unique and interesting to me. I have analysed their work, which has helped me to gain some inspiration for my own work. For this project I will be focusing on the environment and how our society has changed that and that nature is becoming less and less within our world due to corporate buildings and the rise in pollution. I have a few ideas of what I want to do for this and will start experimenting with these ideas and see whether or not they actually work well. I want to make another photo book as I feel that the image ideas that I have will look better in a photo book altogether to tell a larger story with different styles and techniques used in my photographs. I really want my work to stand out and be different, I want it to reflect surrealism photography as well as incorporating landscape photography. I want to experiment with different techniques, shapes and layers. This will be an interesting experiment and I think that it will make a good photo book.