Has the use of modern day technology made surreal photos possible? In this essay I will be exploring surrealistic photos and will be researching to find out if the uses of modern day technology (like photoshop and illustrator) has made surrealistic photos possible or if these types of photographs have been around before the introduction of technology. The reason as to why I chose this question is because I looked at using surrealism in my narrative work so I feel like trying to understand and explore this subject will help me with my own work. Adding to this, I can see how other artists work to get a surrealistic outcome and how they use different media to help structure their compositions. I will also be looking at artists work such as Jerry Uelsmann and Erik Johansson and comparing their work to try and differentiate between their outcomes and try to find out if surrealistic photos were around before the use of 21st century softwares. I chose to look at these two artist as Jerry Uelsmann has been interested in abnormal photos from the late 60s where as, Erik Johansson is more of 21st century artist that uses modern day advantages like photoshop to help him creating his pieces. As we have such easy access to technology such as Photoshop we tend to chose that over using a camera to do a double exposure effect as its quicker and more convenient than going out to take 2 photos on the same reel. However, now that we have these technologies a lot of people have got lazy and use technology over using a camera which I feel is destroying the culture of making these pieces the original way. By doing work like Jerry Uelsmann, you get more of a reward ability by going the extra length to get good quality photos rather than using the computer to do the hard work for you. Furthermore, by using a camera the quality is different compared to a graphically rendered piece, so by using a camera you can create quick a sombre effect in the photo where as with photoshop editing you can’t. On the other hand, when it comes to making surreal art work using the computer can favour you in many ways because you have a variety of options and designs to chose from, however, when you use a camera you have a lot of restrictions as you need to get the photo’s correct otherwise it ruins the piece because you can’t use a computer or any editing software to change it or make any colour/blur adjustments. Adding to this, with new technologies you can adjust poor quality images by adding textures or by using the tools on the software. So, newer technologies take the upper hand when it comes to image quality and editing. However, you can’t do this on a camera with adds a lot of pressure to get the photo right, sometimes the photo can’t be taken without the right equipment. This means that making a surreal image using textures and tools on a computer is a lot easier to achieve than if you tried to use traditional techniques to try and get the same image. Furthermore, on a computer the quality will come out a lot better than on the camera as you can enhance the quality of the final image whereas with a camera you have to stick with the quality that you took the picture in. Looking at someone’s work like the famous Photographer, Jerry Uelsmann, makes you question whether there is necessarily a need for using 21st century technologies to make surreal and abnormal photos happen. From his work, I can see that he managed to create abnormal and surreal photographs by just using his camera as he had no access to photo editing software. Now days, a lot of graphics designers, artist and photographers rely heavily on using software like Photoshop and illustrator to make their photos seem something of a different planet by, however, before Photoshop and illustrator was around photographers had to rely on there own skills to create these photos such as the work of Jerry Uelsmann. He spent long periods printing and using darkrooms so that he could create his pieces, if we compare that with today you don't
have to do as much effort to get the same effect. Jerry Uelsmann’s focus when taking surreal photos is to create "allegorical surrealist imagery of the unfathomable" and with this direction in mind he is able to use he’s camera and creative mind set to get the images that he wants. Contrasting with Jerry Uelsmann, Erik Johansson sets out to get the same sort of pictures but relies heavily on using modern day technologies to achieve this effect. He “spends dozens of hours using image manipulation software such as Adobe Photoshop to alter the image digitally and to illustrate his idea.” So unlike Jerry Uelsmann, Johansson doesn’t have to rely on having amazing photography skills to combine images together to create a surrealistic piece. He can using his knowledge of modern day softwares to help him alter and project his ideas through his work. Even though, Johansson has the access to modern day technologies he still gets "hundreds of original photographs” to use for his work. If we look back at Uelsmann's work, he relies on taking photographs to create his ideas and so does Johansson. This shows, that even though there is access to 21st century softwares the key element of starting a surrealist piece is getting the original photos (starting images) correct to either develop in the darkroom like Uelsmann does or by developing them via softwares and photo manipulation. Looking at both these artists, they both set out with the same mind set which is to create a surrealistic piece for their audience to try and fathom and make sense of it. However, even though they have the same mind set the way they work completely juxtaposes each other. Uelsmann is more of a classic photographer who relies on his knowledge of working a camera and using natural elements like light exposure, darkness and contrast and mixes that with photography techniques like double exposing to get the pictures he wants. On the other hand, Johansson is more of a 21st century technology expert that will use photo manipulating on software like photoshop, Lightroom and illustrator to project his thoughts through his graphical designs. Having said this, the use of modern day technology does enhance some of the surrealist outcomes and make the look more aesthetically pleasing. But surrealistic photographers like Uelsmann have been making these sorts of outcomes before the introduction of technology, so surrealism in photography has been around a lot longer than it has in graphical design. But I feel like there is two different sides to making surrealistic pieces, the photography side makes the pictures look very dated and sombre creating a unnerving image. However, the graphical side of creating surrealistic makes everything seem that little bit less scary and more confusing as the outcomes you can create using the right softwares is limitless so you can combine a variation of different graphical pieces into your artwork to really confuse the viewer and make them really think and try to understand what their looking at.
These 2 pictures are work from both Jerry Uelsmann (left) and Erik Johansson (right). I can see that there is a clear difference between the two photos, for example, the quality of the photo on the right by Johansson is a lot better as its been rendered through a photo manipulation software to increase the graphics of the piece. Where as, on the left the photograph by Jerry Uelsmann is as good quality as Johansson as he has had to use physical printing to create his surrealistic photo. This shows that trying to create a surrealistic piece before 21st century technology got introduced was a lot harder as the quality isn't as good as a rendered photo. Furthermore, because Uelsmann’s work was mainly around in the 60s there isn't any colour to add to the photos so its a lot harder to get depth and a good focal point in the photo. Whereas, with Johansson's work he has the access to filter packages like Viveza to edit the colours of his work to brighten it up and make it more eye catching. Even though, these designs have their differences they are also very similar in a lot of ways, for example, they both have compositions where there is a focal point in the foreground and background of the pictures. Also, both these designs have that surrealistic look to them which confuses the user and makes them think about what they're looking at and really make them try and see the meaning behind the photo. Looking at my work for my narrative project compared to these two artists, they both had some impact on my work. The artists that had the most impact on my work was Jerry Uelsmann, the reason for this is because he uses double exposure a lot in his work and he varies how he uses it as well. For example, the image on the left shows how Jerry Uelsmann uses double exposure of a tree trunk and a house to create this surrealistic image. I tried to do the same with my outcome however I used Erik Johansson’s techniques of using softwares (mainly photoshop) to combine the two image to create the double exposure effect. Also, Jerry Uelsmann's photos were predominantly black and white and I feel like this adds a sombre effect to his work making the surrealistic image feel as well as look quite scary and odd. I wanted to replicate this in my work so I added an element of using black and white and some sihlouette to
try and get the sombre effect that Uelsmann uses in his work. Looking at the two artists, I used them both to help me with my outcomes but in different ways. I used Jerry Uelsmann’s double exposure techniques to create a well composition piece but as I’m not as advanced using a camera, I decided to use Johansson's techniques of using photo manipulation to create the double exposure effect. Adding to this, I feel like I have made a strong connection to Uelsmann's work in my own project as I have used his techniques to try and making my outcomes a lot better. However, even though Erik Johansson has had a massive impact on my work I haven't used much of his design style in my project. Personally, I favour Uelsmann’s style over Johansson but I like the way that Johansson uses a variety of software techniques to create a strong image, and because of this, I have tried to use the same techniques that he does to edit and enhance my final outcomes for my project. To conclude, after exploring Jerry Uelsmann and Erik Johansson’s work and comparing these two artists I’ve come to the conclusion that surrealistic photos have been around before the use of modern day technologies as Jerry Uelsmann's work clearly shows how he manipulated photos using just his camera and some darkroom experience to create a quite scary, sombre outcome. Even though, both of these artists share differences they both have the same mindset when it comes to designing their pieces. Having said this, like I explained earlier in my essay, I do feel like there are two sides to creating a surrealistic outcome. The graphical side that is only newly been introduced has made a new type of surrealistic outcome that differs quite a bit from traditional methods of making a surrealistic piece. The graphical side has discovered a new way of making a surrealistic outcome that wasn't previously accessible because of the limited use of computers and softwares. The new side to surrealistic photos consists of photo manipulation and photo alterations using computers which artists like Uelsmann wasn't able to access. By looking at Johansson’s work I can see that by using 21st century technologies and using computer to his advantage, he is part of the new era of surrealistic artists. Furthermore, I feel like both this artists have had a massive impact on my outcome for my narrative project as I have referred to both of them when making my outcomes.
Bibliography Jerry Uelsmann, JU, 20th February 2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Uelsmann Erik Johansson, EJ, 20th February 2017 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Johansson_(artist) Jerry Uelsmann, JU, Online picture, 20th February 2017 https://www.google.co.uk/search? q=jerry+uelsmann&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmzqWrjIvUAhWqL8A KHUl2CKIQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=659#tbm=isch&q=jerry+uelsmann+work&imgrc= ZDqu4TocLaLcZM: Erik Johansson, EJ, Online picture, 21st February 2017 https://www.google.co.uk/search? q=Erik+Johansson&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHp5-4jIvUAhXsI8AK Hey_A6IQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=659#imgrc=hc_WMgHpBctW3M: