Surrealist photography is experimental. Photographers employ manual camera settings, imaginative composition, and unusual photo editing techniques to represent unconscious ideas, dreams, and emotions. “Surreal images tend to be dreamlike and tap into people’s unconscious.
Artists who utilise these techniques.
Dora maar
Henriette Theodora Markovitch (22 November 1907 – 16 July 1997), better known as Dora Maar, was a French photographer, painter, and poet. A pioneering Surrealist artist and passionate antifascist activist, Maar’s work spanned a wide range of subjects, from commercial photography for fashion and advertising to documenting the social and economic struggles during the Great Depression. Her art frequently explored Surrealist themes, and her innovative darkroom techniques delved into psychology, dreams, and inner states.
In the 1930s, Maar was one of the few photographers to exhibit alongside prominent Surrealists like Man Ray and Salvador Dalí in major exhibitions in Paris, New York, and London. Her bold and experimental approach to photography was central to the Surrealist movement.
Maar’s political activism and distinctive photographic style also had a significant impact on Pablo Picasso, especially during their romantic relationship. Many believe her influence contributed to Picasso’s creation of Guernica (1937), his powerful anti-war masterpiece. According to Amar Singh, curator of the Amar Gallery in London, “She influenced Picasso to paint Guernica – he had never entered political painting before.”
Picasso depicted Maar in several of his paintings, such as Portrait of Dora Maar and Dora Maar au Chat. However, Maar herself remarked, “All his portraits of me are lies. They’re all Picassos. Not one is Dora Maar,” suggesting that the images Picasso created of her did not capture her true essence.
Man ray
Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealist movements, although his ties to each were informal. He produced major works in a variety of media but considered himself a painter above all. He was best known for his pioneering photography, and was a renowned fashion and portrait photographer. He is also noted for his work with photograms, which he called “rayographs” in reference to himself.
jerry Uelsmann
Jerry Norman Uelsmann (June 11, 1934 – April 4, 2022) was an influential American photographer, renowned for his surreal and enigmatic photomontages. Emerging as an artist in the 1960s, Uelsmann gained international acclaim for his unique approach to composite printing, which he used to explore and express the emotional depths of the human experience. Over his six-decade career, his work was showcased in major exhibitions, earned him prestigious awards, and was widely published.
Among his many honors were a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Royal Photographic Society Fellowship, and a Lucie Award. Uelsmann described his creative process as a journey of discovery in the darkroom, which he considered a “visual research laboratory.” Rather than adhering to the previsualization technique popularized by photographers like Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, Uelsmann coined the term “post-visualization,” creating his final image after taking the photograph, rather than planning it in advance. This allowed him to construct visual narratives akin to dreams, resulting in works that often felt emotionally more truthful than the physical world itself.
By the 1980s, Uelsmann became one of the most collected photographers in the United States, influencing both analog and digital photographers. Although he admired digital photography, Uelsmann remained firmly dedicated to the craft of black-and-white film photography, preferring the darkroom’s alchemical process.
ERIC Johansson
Erik Johansson (b. 1985) is a Swedish photographer and visual artist based in Prague, Czech Republic. He is known for creating surreal worlds through the combination of photographs. He primarily focuses on personal projects and exhibitions, and his approach to photography is unique in that he seeks to capture ideas rather than moments. Using his camera and imagination, he strives to create a single, realistic image that tells a story, even if it includes elements that seem impossible. Essentially, he works to solve the problem of how to capture the impossible.
WORK PROCESS
Erik places a strong emphasis on realism in his work and aims to make the viewer feel as though they are part of the scene. While much of his process involves post-production and combining photographs, he also makes an effort to capture as much as possible on location. This often involves building props and carefully planning the shoot.
Lighting and perspective are crucial in creating realistic compositions through the combination of images. If certain elements cannot be captured on location, Erik recreates them in a controlled environment. He has a thorough understanding of every aspect of the process, from idea and planning to photography and post-production, in order to ensure that everything comes together seamlessly. Each photograph and element serves a purpose in the final image.
Erik handles all post-production himself in order to have complete control over the final result. The idea, photography, and post-production are all interconnected, and the final image does not surpass the quality of the photographs used to create it. Similarly, the strength of the photographs is derived from the underlying idea.
Erik does not use computer- or Ai-generated material, nor illustrated- or stock images, relying solely on complex combinations of his own photographs. This process is time-consuming, and he produces only about ten new works per year. To learn more about how his images come to life, you can watch his behind-the-scenes videos as well.
