Surrealism

  September 18th, 2022

The Beauty of Surrealism 

By: Connor Albaugh

        It has been quite a while since I worked with photography in terms of mapping out and creating a visually entertaining and captivating image. The topic of this blog really challenged me to think outside of the box and made me think hard about what I could do to create a good photograph. My thoughts, and eventually the photos I took to create an image were all taken in the interest of surrealism. Surrealism is quite a fascinating branch of photography as well as a way of being able to express meanings of things in a unique way. The definition for surrealism is as follows: "Surrealism aims to revolutionize human experience. It balances a rational vision of life with one that asserts the power of the unconscious and dreams. The movement's artists find magic and strange beauty in the unexpected and the uncanny, the disregarded and the unconventional" (Article #1). As I read this definition and did a little research on surrealism, I was confused at first. There is certainly a lot to unpack here. With surrealism, there are a lot of real elements as well as elements that challenge a viewer to take more than one look at a photograph. For example, elements like mountains in a photo will take up a "rational vision of life" while something like an angle or the execution of an image may embody the "unconscious or dream-like" portion of surrealism. A photograph of a room that shows the colors of walls, the layout, and maybe an eye peeking out oddly in a certain place of the room demonstrates an "unconscious" aspect of the photo. One may see this and not think anything of it, therefore not being aware of the importance of the eye, for example. But, one who challenges and pushes themselves to take in the whole photograph for what it is will have the best opportunity to catch parts of the image that are important, yet hard to find and put into perspective. "As Surrealism Photography often resembles moments from our dreams, it evidently appeals to something deep in the unconscious parts of our minds. Additionally, the juxtaposition of unexpected elements creates an image that stops us in our tracks. Every day, each of us likely views thousands of photographs, all competing for our attention. But very few succeed in keeping it for very long. Images showing surprising or bizarre scenes are more likely to stand out and remain fixed in our memories" (Article #2). Piggybacking on surrealism, this quote does a good job of adding to how compelling photography in this category can be. Things we do merely out of habit are examples of the unconscious parts of the mind. Surrealism does a really good job of implementing this into photographs because more times than never, we glance at photographs and move onto the next. Instead of taking the time to admire and appreciate certain elements in a piece of work, our brain wants to move on. This is a good indication of the quality of the image. Better images require one to take more time and will force us to focus more on elements one may not take the time to see or realize. These photographs are usually the most entertaining and fascinating images to look at because there is usually so much meaning as well as hidden meaning. Elements in a photograph that are coupled together that don't seem to have much similarity or cohesion is another area of surrealism that doesn't fail to disappoint. For example, a photo graph of a sky with a whale holding an airplane is one of various examples of this type of photography. Since we aren't used to seeing whales in the sky because they live in the ocean, it forces me to take another look at the photograph because it essentially "stops me in my tracks" due to the whale being a physical irregularity. For most photographers in this field, this is what they aim to achieve. The more attention their photographs get, the more people will look at them and will encourage each and every viewer to develop some kind of meaning or story in regards to what they see and feel. Interestingly enough, photos that don't necessarily reveal their meaning in the most open way most often times make the best photographs. 

        As we take a look at surrealism, let's look at the photo at the top of this blog. This photograph was created and edited by me, and the technique used happened to be called “double exposure” where I used Snapseed. In an effort to make the image, I tried very hard to make a "surrealistic" photograph: one that would challenge the viewer as well as force them to take more than one look at it. The first image I took was of the quad in the middle of Lycoming College. It is essentially "the middle point" in our college as several factors forced me to capture the moment in time. With this in mind, I needed a second image: one that would complement the first image. I chose an elevator to take a picture of and I decided to put the quad photo in the doorway of the elevator which would make the viewer feel as they walk into the elevator, they are essentially walking onto or through the quad. The soft blue color of the sky coupled with the green trees and dramatic lighting really came together well to make a great image which leads one to see light is getting scarce as Williamsport, PA nears nighttime. The elevator provides symmetry to the picture of the quad placed in the middle of the door, which allows the photo to have good organization. The white color of the walls isn't too bright, which aids in the fact that the presence of light in the quad also lacks because of sunset on the rise. The white lines on the bottom of the elevator serve as leading lines which leads the viewer into the door and is the beginning of the quad in this case. It allows the viewer to feel as though they are actively walking onto the quad even though they are just looking at the image. The black color of the two sides of the door pairs well with the lighting in the quad photograph, and also adds a frame to the quad as if it were a photograph on the wall. Overall, I think that this image does a good job of demonstrating several elements of surrealism. The photo of an elevator opening so one can walk onto the quad of Lycoming College serves as a juxtaposition. The quad and the elevator are two separate and distinctly different things paired together to create a photograph. Obviously enough, an elevator door opening would have a place for people to stand to either go up or down to a floor in a building. Seeing the quad in between an elevator door is definitely a different look. My inspiration came from Liam Drury to create such an image because he made elevator doors opening to the communal area of the Brickyard, which is a restaurant in downtown Williamsport. I really liked the outcome of the image, so I decided I would try it out for myself. When someone goes to view the image I took at the top of this blog, I think that they would be entertained and would be forced to take multiple looks. This isn't something one would normally see or experience because an elevator door doesn't open to a random quad. However, it does add suspense and uncertainty to the photograph. One may not know what to think of this image or the purpose of making such an image. This is the mere beauty of surrealism. I think this would be one of thousands of photographs that is worth keeping the attention for a long period of time from a viewer. This isn't the most technically sound photograph out there, but I think that it is visually captivating. It juxtaposes a quad and an elevator, together being very different in nation. An elevator is used for purposes of transportation while a quad is used for recreational activities, studying, a sense of tranquility, etc. Although these two things differ immensely, the quad in the middle of an elevator door definitely is symbolic. When a door opens, that usually means one thing to me: a new opportunity. I usually open doors to things on a daily basis to go to class, use the restroom, get help with homework, or to get food. One thing that holds true in all of these cases is that I never know what is going to happen when I walk through these doors. I typically know what I will eat or what class I am going to at a specific time. But, I never know what events will transpire in the time I am eating or when I am in class. With this being said, walking through a door is a good opportunity to experience, witness, or feel something new in nature. It may be important or may even be insignificant. Regardless of what it is, there is always that feeling of being apart of something new in life and could either be as good as the smell of fresh new kicks or as bad as seeing an ex you would rather not associate yourself with. As one walks through a door "of new opportunity," they are met by a quad. Anything can go on in the quad such as meeting someone new, bumping into to someone you know, being apart of a college event, playing pickup football, or merely enjoying the beauty of a day while eating food from the cafe. Whatever a person decides to do with their life and time within the quad is totally up to them. However, this idea of a door and being able to walk through it into a space that encourages such an activity in the sense of "new opportunity" excites me as a human being. This idea does well in the sense that it allows the elevator and the quad to have some sort of cohesion physically and mentally because of how similar each of them are through meaning, not necessarily through their physical attributes. They also do their best in allowing for transportation as one can walk across the quad and one can travel up and down an elevator. 

        Whatever the case may be, surrealism in this case really inspired me to make this image which ended up coming together quite well. The hidden meaning really encourages people to embrace the idea of "new opportunity" and go into such a place with an open mind whether or not you know what will happen or not. Even though the juxtaposition of two separate and different elements may create some sort of confusion to a viewer at first, the final product is very captivating and forces the viewer to take multiple looks at this aesthetic image. In the end, I am proud how this image turned out being that this is the first time I have created such an image regards to surrealism. Surrealism really forces the artist to be creative and masterful in their ability to demonstrate meaning through photographic images even though it may not be as simple at first to identity and associate with. 

Sources

Article 1: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/surrealism#:~:text=Surrealism%20aims%20to%20revolutionise%20human,the%20disregarded%20and%20the%20unconventional.

Article 2: https://photoheger.com/blog/surrealism-photography.html#:~:text=What%20is%20Surrealism%20Photography%3F,by%20the%20photographer%27s%20creative%20vision.