Surrealism is an art form that became popular in the 1920s as an expression of a revolutionary philosophy. It attempted to free people for their unmovable rationality and the restrictive habits in politics, religion and social behavior. Mostly aligned with radical political movements, it aims at liberating the mind and freeing the imagination. Surrealism in photography is about adding certain imaginary elements to the real physical world, diminishing the fine line between what is possible and impossible, mixing them into a composition. Examples of this consist of headless portraits replacing heads with inanimate objects like umbrellas, and using vivid colours, these photos tend to incorporate two entirely different perspectives and merging them together.

This idea for mixing usually two contrasting things together to form an image I found interesting and wanted to make a basis out of it for future shoots. This would mean using software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom to create the desired outcomes, whilst using my own photographs from shoots to add objects and people into the picture. Here are some examples of surrealist photography:On artist I found to be particularly influential was photographer Lara Zankoul. Zankoul looks at the idea of underlying representation, and how polar opposites are represented in seven parts as symbol of the fundamentally divine nature of the medium, interrelation and dynamics. Known as Taoist the focus is mainly visual in her work, while the main theme continues to be spiritual and philosophical. When exploring her works I liked the constant use of lighting and perception of the eye to create final outcomes with a surreal twist, the hidden figure of the human body seems to be one of the main focuses of her works, much like Clare Rae’s work Zankoul hides the female face to create an unseen identity.

Some of her works can be seen below exploring these ideas of surrealism and software to produce unusual imagery:Once after creating a mood-board including my favorite images in it, I decided I should analyse one of her most well-known photographs to see and understand what made it so effective as an overall image. To do this I would have to explore three areas: technical aspects, visual aspects and conceptual knowledge of the actual piece itself. By doing this it would allow me to create a response shoot to the artists of my choice in a surrealist style that I could relate to my own personal topic of political landscapes. The picture I chose from Lara Zankoul is called ‘The Unseen’ and is part of a solo exhibition regarding a series of photos. Technical: The image itself uses artificial lighting to create the scene inside the studio made room, because of this the end result makes the impression that the whole thing is subtly staged. A relatively normal shutter speed seems to have been used due to how not too much light has been let and how shadows have not become too overpowering, this as a result allows for a balanced piece where neither of the shades dominate each and instead compliment. The exposure inside the photograph in my opinion is a bit high than usual, but is done effectively to have the green/blue walls pop out against the backdrop of the two characters seated, complimenting them and filling the blank spaces with a more calming and dramatic colour.

Visual: Visually I think that the piece is extremely aesthetic to the eye due to the composition of the characters in the room and the colours which complement all other aspects. Symmetry seems to be one of the leading aspects within this photo as both the rabbit and horse and positioned equally away from each other with the chandelier placed directly in between them, breaking up the otherwise generic unchanging colours that consist through the image. The water which added as a break, separates the room into a surreal image, as the underwater aspect of the tea party is unusual and so intrigues the viewers to observe the image for longer than they actually had expected.

Conceptual: The concept behind the pieces were to challenge Zankoul to develop images that went beyond regular adjustments. This included creating a completely fabricated environment that her models would have to model in, using fish tanks and specially made rooms to provide them with situations they could adjust too .