SURREAL OCTOBER 2017
CHROMA
magazine
chroma // 02
A publication showcasing the unique creativity the photography students of VSAA hold. Here is to celebrating their creations of the now and the future. Volume 3 Issue 2 October 2017 Based in Vancouver, Washington Editor: Ellie Josephson Advisor: Abby Harris issuu.com/chromamagazine chromamag2015@gmail.com All photographs belong to the artist and have been published with their permission DO NOT copy or share any images without explicit permission from Chroma Magazine Thank you for respecting the photographers featured and the itegrity of their work.
chroma // 03
When October frost paints the grass in faded colors and harsh Autumn sunlight gleams through blood-red leaves clinging to jagged trees, we lose ourselves. ...
chroma // 04
It’s the season of uncertainty. Our breaths leave translucent prints in the air in front of us that disappear before we can decide whether or not they were really there. It’s everything that won’t fit in the palms of our hands: the feelings that come from deep within us and the speculations that are birthed somewhere outside of ourselves. It’s in the frozen images that thrum through our chests in place of heartbeats. ...
chroma // 05
It’s in the muffled things that we never know quite how to say, kept hidden behind white sheets and grey clouds and long dresses. It’s in the face that we just can’t seem to believe is our own— chapped lips that speak in unison with ours and eyes that are reduced to blotches of color in our mirrors gone blurry with fog. ...
chroma // 06
It’s here that we embrace what we cannot see with a fearful uncertainty and call forward all that is visible with misty eyes and foggy hearts. It’s here that we begin to accept the blurred line between what we don’t understand and what is real. It’s the season for all the things we never believed, for all the truths that beg to be realized, and for the trance that comes from living in a Surreal world.
Piece by Grace Korthuis
chroma // 07
Editor’s Letter Surreal. Having the qualities of surrealism; bizarre. This is a time where the happenings that flood our lives seem almost unreal. As if we are floating in a pool of unearthly memories, moments, and speculation of whatís to come. How we interpret, respond, and act towards this crazy world is up to us. The students of VSAAís photography focus class was given the vague, one-worded prompt, surreal. Each of us cultivate our own interpretation of the word, and from there started planning. this issue is the showcasing of those interpretations and artistic decisions made by our staff. I hope you enjoy the work we have all put into this publication, enjoy! Warmly, Ellie Josephson
chroma // 09
Staff Gallery Maria Vara // 12 Cassady White // 18 Byanca Young // 24 Saylem Pitkin // 30 James Hurst // 36 Ellie Josephson // 42 Jane Greene // 48 Trillian Vieira // 54 Reyli Quinonez // 60
chroma // 10
Pg. 24
Pg. 12
Pg. 18 chroma // 11
chroma // 12
NIGHTMARE Maria Vara
I wanted to challenge myself to edit and take pictures that I’m not really use to do. I simply got inspired by my own capacity to visualize something and be able to create it. I spent a night googling and looking on social media some cliche Halloween pictures and I took notes of elements I liked and things I wanted to learn. This surrealism series was my opportunity to create. Fear is what I wanted to share with my audience. I want people to look at my photographs and feel inspired, and also ask themselves how did I do it. The ideas I visualized in my mind were to take something scary but artistic in order to have people remember my work and think about it even when they’re not looking at it.
chroma // 13
chroma // 14
chroma // 15
chroma // 16
chroma // 17
chroma // 18
TEXARKANA Cassady White My series was inspired by the Texarkana Moonlight Murders of 1946. Between February 22 and May 3, an unidentified man targeted couples at night at a local “lovers’ lane” wearing a mask made out of a pillowcase. He killed five people and wounded three within that time and was never caught. For my series, I took inspiration from both the original murders and the subsequent 1976 movie “The Town That Dreaded Sundown”, which is wildly inaccurate but a fun watch nonetheless. I’ve always been really interesWted in true crime and I thought these murders especially would be really cool to portray for the October issue. I had my model dress closely to how the actor did in the movie and toned down the saturation of each photo because I wanted the series to stay close to the feeling of the movie.
chroma // 19
chroma // 20
chroma // 21
chroma // 22
chroma // 23
chroma // 24
LOOKING THROUGH GLASS Byanca Young
Model: Alexis Forrester
chroma // 25
chroma // 26
chroma // 27
chroma // 28
chroma // 29
Kiddo
Saylem Pitkin
chroma // 30
This series was inspired by irrational fears that I had as a kid, I wanted the series to connect with the unsettling feeling we had all as kids when our imaginations ran wild. I took inspiration from simplistic scenes from horror movie films and I hoped to give the impression of taking a double look when putting my photos in pairs together...enjoy!
chroma // 31
chroma // 32
chroma // 33
chroma // 34
chroma // 35
ISINOD James Hurst For this series entitled ISINOD I explored manipulating portraiture. I took initial portraits, then took photos of landscapes and nature in general. I wanted to explore blending landscape and portraiture to create photographic compositions much like film double exposure, but in the digital realm. I am constantly in pursuit of “original” art, for me clean photography is as boring as it gets, which is why I wanted to explore intentionally creating compositions rather than using a single still shot. Furthermore I stretched myself the most by capturing portraiture, I regard myself as a “natural” photographer, by that I don’t mean I am naturally proficient at photography. A natural photographer is one who captures the natural world, so taking posed portraiture was about as conflicting as could be.
chroma // 36
chroma // 37
chroma // 38
chroma // 39
chroma // 40
chroma // 41
DELIQUESCE; TO MELT AWAY Dreams are what we use to process the world around us, and as we drift into a state of solitude our minds broaden to the possibilities that real life cannot provide. Each night our bodies melt into our beds as our minds dissolve into our fantasies. Provide yourself with experiences to fuel your time of processing. Then, soften, diffuse, and deliquesce to the land free of worry and logic. These images were captured late October 17th with my dear friend Aliyah. The flash of a camera is rather frowned upon, but I wanted to see if I could take want would normally be an undesired feature of a camera, and use it to my advantage. Post production edits were made in Adobe Photoshop to reach my desired look.
Ellie Josephson chroma // 42
chroma // 43
chroma // 44
chroma // 45
chroma // 46
chroma // 47
GOLDEN GIRLS Jane Greene When first presented with the theme of surrealism, my immediate thought was to create a somewhat scary series, something unsettling and strange. However, upon contemplating the theme for some time, I decided to take my series in a different direction. Though surrealism can mean a variety of things, to me, I see it as something dreamy, hazy, whimsical, etc. With that in mind, I chose to focus on (one of my favorite aspects of photography) light. I utilized the natural light that is present at sunset, or “the golden hour”, and shot with a prime lens and wide aperture to create a warm kind of glow around my subjects. I shot on the docks at the Vancouver Waterfront, and attempted to shoot from a perspective that maybe most don’t see when they’re at that location, furthering the surrealness by altering the appearance of a location many are familiar with.
chroma // 48
chroma // 49
chroma // 50
chroma // 51
chroma // 52
chroma // 53
NEO Trillian Viera Neo is a series that incorporates the idea of neon signs. I took photos that had their original purpose rejected and edited them to fit this series. I experimented with editing that resembles neon signs, but played with layering and coloring to add a different affect. Changing the look of the original photo enough to get rid of undesired elements. Doing this gave the photos I chose a different purpose.
chroma // 54
chroma // 55
chroma // 56
chroma // 57
chroma // 58
chroma // 59
Troubled In this series, I wanted to tell a story that showed some strange events that occur overnight. Each picture shows a scene where all of the events happening link back to one person but no one knows why. This whole series was based off of a TV series called Channel Zero: Candle Cove, a story about a man investigating 5 mysterious murders that happened in his childhood. I wanted to create a creepy aspect as a result of the events in the series.
chroma // 60
Reyli Quionez chroma // 61
chroma // 62
chroma // 63
chroma // 64
chroma // 65
CHROMA magazine
issue.com/chromamagzine