A Level Critical & Contextual Studies Personal Project The Passing Of Time
Summer Jackson Summer Jackson/ 217840
An Allegory of the Vanities ofHarmen Steenwyck Human Life
1640 Oil on wood 39x51 cm(small scale)
This type of painting is called a “Vanitas painting” , it’s also a still life painting, still life paintings are frequently associated with themes of decay, and the vanity of earthly things.
Wealth The shell represents wealth as these sort of items were expensive and hard to get hold of. They were also classed as a rare possession during the 17th century. The reason why is because families/people would have to travel far to get them, so that indicates that they could afford foreign travels.
Time The watch/chronometer were a valuable item just like the shell, it also represents to idea of time, how long we have left on this earth and how precious time is. Looking closely you can see that the hand is pointing upwards as if it was pointing at 12 o’clock. Also in the painting is a extinguished lamp, that could also represent passing of time.
Dali The Persistence of Memory 1927 This painting also depicts the passing of time, but in a very different way. I will now look at the artists and find ot what this image means.
Salvador Dali
• Born in 1904, Salvador Dali is known to be a famous Surrealist. His work revolved around paintings and sculptures. During his career, he experienced many different types of art forms, and experimented with many different styles allowing him to further his points of expression. He also focused on cubism until 1929, Dali then joined the group of surrealists, and this art movement which he felt a connection. “The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret. ”
-Salvador Dali
What inspires me about Dali work is that he paints dream like places, causing confusion to the people looking. Looking at Salvador Dali’s work I will try interpret my own idea using photography..
Salvador Dali describes painting a landscape near Port Lligat. In the foreground you can see a olive tree with a branch cut. He relates how, after ending his meal with some Camembert cheese, Dali went to go look at his painting one last time before that day ended. It was then he realized that the image of two soft watches, one of them hanging from the branch of a tree, it then appeared to him just two hours later “the picture was complete.” “Hand-painted dream photographs” It was thought that dali used sable brushes and a Jeweller’s glass for close up work, then over time gradually built up the layers. The painting The persistence of Memory was one of the 1930’s most popular landscape paintings of it’s time. The watches indicate the passing of time and decay.
The Passing Of Time My main theme for this project is looking at the passing of time and linking it with the idea of surrealism. Artists such as Salvador Dali will be one of the first artist I will research to give me inspiration. He most famous piece of surrealist art pieces is The Persistence Of Memory, that painting is all about the passing of time. Researching into this image I will find a start as where I want to go with this project, what I want for my final outcome. I will research old surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte, then after looking at their inspired images I will take them further and use for them for inspiration. Using objects around my house such as clocks I will photograph them and develop the images into Photoshop. After developing my images in Photoshop I created using Dali and Magritte as inspiration I will look at more modern surrealist photographers who look at using cameras and Photoshop to create surrealist photographs. I will be using still life as well as looking at using models. The still life side to it is using personal items and the models is looking floating body parts similar to Christopher Mckeeney.
Surrealism Surrealism started as a literary and political movement but had a profound effect on art, photography and film. Surrealism act started in Paris by the poet and critic Andre Breton. Breton found support for his idea in visual arts. He admired the cubist paintings of Pablo Picasso, not for their abstract design, but for the way they fragment the body to create fantastic figures. Although there was no single style of surrealist art, there are two dominant strands; dream like paintings, and those using free association, which the Surrealists called automatism.
Rene Magritte Rene Magritte was a Belgian surrealist artist, He was well known for a number of witty and thought provoking images. Rene started out as a commercial artist, he created advertising and book designs. His interest in the idea may have come part from Freudian psychoanalysis, for which repetition is a sign of trauma. Rene was interested in textures and adding words to his work, he liked to make people think in depth about his paintings.
What inspires me about his work is the way he turns the normal into abstract pieces of art. With his paintings as well he blends his colours well. The painting � not to be reproduced� is one painting I wanted to reenact, using one of my friends as a model then have a photoshoot. After getting my shoots I’ll take them to Photoshop, edit them till I get a final image.
“A key inspiration had been the re-discovery of the poet Lautréamont(1846-70), whose line, “Beautiful as the chance encounter of the sewing machine and the umbrella on the operating table”, provided the imaginative rhetoric for surrealist practice, an access to the ”royal road to the unconscious” “Magritte explored the potential of Lautréamont’s poetic idea of irrational juxtapositions. Familiar objects take on a new meaning and presence with Margitte., when divorced from the logic of function. He raises question about logic expectations, and conditioning and the role of visual perception in the language of art, which remain thought- provoking today.” The Illustrated History of Art From the renaissance up to the present day The Apple Press 1992
This is one of my favorite paintings by Rene Magritte as I find it a big mystery to who is the man in the mirror. When you first look at the painting you don’t actually realize that the mans reflection is correct until you look a second time, that’s the sort of photographs I want to achieve. To reenact this painting I will use one of my friends as a model then take the picture in front of the mirror, from there I will edit in Photoshop till I get a similar outcome
This is one of the photos I will take forward and recreate myself, to do this I will photograph my room or a room in my house. From there I will do induvial shoots for the items I will blow up on Photoshop to create a similar outcome like this Magritte painting.
For my project I’m going to be looking at Rene Magritte and surrealism. He is a massive part of my inspiration for this as I’ll be looking and studying his work then photography inspired images. Photos such as “The lovers” I’ll try interpret using photography and real life models. What I enjoy about his work is the way he wants the people looking at his work to think, also the way he defies art by making it alternative and abstract. I shall be looking at Surrealism, looking at painter who created the idea of surrealism and try to recreate similar photos. Then further on into my research and experimenting I will move to modern photographers, research how they edit their images, also how they take them and what kit they use.
The lovers
The son of man
Time Transfixed
Image ideas for Rene Magritte photoshoot
Not to be reproduced
The Happy Donor
To start of with I had to delete all the white background around the comb using the quick select tool.
From there I zoomed into the comb and tried to get rid of as much of the left over white background as I could, using the magic wand tool and the rubber.
I had to put the opacity down so I could get erase part of the comb. The reason I had to erase it was because it was overlapping with the chair and it didn’t blend well.
I did the same thing with the glass, I cut out the white background, afterwards went around and made the edges neat. After getting everything in it’s place I created a shadow as there’s a ray of light, so to make it more natural I added a fake shadow to help blend.
This is my own image inspired by Rene Magritte’s “personal values”. To recreate this I had to photograph a classroom in the college, from there I got separate items which were used in Rene Magritte's original painting. What I find went well was the use of Photoshop and how everything blended with together even though they came from separate images. One of my favorite things about this images is the way I’ve managed to put a shadow on the wine glass.
Rene Magritte (1952) Personal Values- Recreated
I find recreating this image will help me start developing my idea into surrealism and looking at modern day photographers who use the power of Photoshop
Martin Stranka Martin Stanka is a self taught photographer who is based in Czech Republic. He started out creating book covers for famous authors in New York. What I like about his photographs are the way he makes each photo different to one and other. Martin creates images which make you have a second look at what he’s create. He creates his photo by simply photographing the people floating, using objects which the model will lay on or will hold them up. From there on he gets background shots which he’ll use in the rest of the photo. After shooting Stranka goes to Photoshop to edit to get to the finale image. This work inspires me because the photographer looks at surrealism and making his images look as if they’re apart of everyday life.
What I like about this image is the way the photographer lighted this set. By looking at the image you can see this was shot in a forest/woodland area, you can also notice the natural lighting shinning down on the model making her the main focus straight away. What I find interesting as well is the colour his photos are, they’re like a sepia/brow and he hardly uses any bright colours.
What I admire about this Martin Stranka image is the way he uses mist to blur out what’s in front of the girl lying down, yet again it creates the idea of mystery. The use of the birds could symbolize peace, innocents. All of his photos look like as if they’re dreams/fantasy worlds. Again with the colour, Martin only focused on brows and taupe colours for this image.
Tommy Ingberg
Tommy Ingberg is a photographer and visual artist born in Sweden. His work revolves around digital art and photography. What I like about his images is that he spends his time experimenting with what he wants to do with his image. Using different techniques every time to improve his final outcome. Looking at his work gives me ideas of what I’m going to shoot. Tommy Ingberd photos are similar to what I want to achieve in my project. Researching his work will help me know what I would have to do to achieve photographs like his. The type of photos he creates are dream like, Tommy creates things what most people wouldn’t think of and using mostly people makes it more realistic.
What I like about this photo Is the way he make the row of men go into the horizon. Also the way he positioned the model, with the hat tilting, this creates a mystery to the man. The more you look at the photo you notice that the males head disappears, this creates a even bigger mystery to him. What I like most about this image is that Tommy Ingberg didn’t use the whole picture of the road, he cropped out the surrounding and just used the road then adding a dream like background, with mist next to the road and leading into the horizon so it connects with the clouds.
The interesting thing about this photo is the idea of getting rid of the face even though you can clearly see that he’s pulling a facial expression. He’s pulling an angry/stressed expression and you can tell this by the tensing of the hands and the position. The use of the bird in the background I find helps show that the background is a sky, but also bring out the mood. It’s a dark, angry mood given off. I like the idea of creating mystery, so looking at this photo it helps inspire my photographs that I’m going to try aim for.
Erik Johansson Erik Johansson is a modern day surrealist photographer. He creates his photos by photographing the same landscape, then taking it to Photoshop to edit. Erik will only produce up to 7-8 photos a year, this shows how long he spends editing. As a photographer he only concentrates on landscapes and turning ordinary photographs to illusions, making people think twice about the photo.
�He doesn't capture moments, he captures ideas�
What I like about this images is the way it all blends together, as you can see it’s two different images but the photographer has thought about the colours and if the images will blend well together. Erik Johansson makes this photograph looks as if the trees should normally be there. Also I like about this photo is the way the photographer uses a model. The use of the model makes the photograph seem more real, and what interest me the most is the way the photographer was able to create shadows in the water as well as reflections.
To photograph this he would of have to photographed a whole room with both doors facing or took single photos of the doors then photo shopped then opposite each other. With this image, I find it interesting the way he has mixed the lighting, with harsh dark sky with light warm colours coming from each room. Again Erik has used a model in his image which I find helps make these photos more realistic.
Christopher McKenney Christopher McKenney is a photographer who revolves his work around surrealism. His photographs are made to confuse people and to leave people thinking. All of his photographs are shot in a wooded area or somewhere empty, far away from modern day society like cities or towns. His work relates to Rene Magritte's as it’s all a part of surrealism but also manipulating modern day objects or places and creating abstract images. Rene Magritte was the first to paint images that used everyday items but didn’t paint them for what they was used for or the size they was. Magritte created paintings which would confuse most viewers and they but the longer they looked the more they understood the painting. That’s’s a similar thing to what McKenney does but instead of paintings he’s more modern and used the photography and Photoshop. Looking at McKinney's photographs helps inspire what images I want to achieve for my final outcome. I will photoshoot friends similar to his poses then use Photoshop to review and refine the outcome
For my Christopher McKenney inspired shoot, I decided to go into a woodlands area with a few friends I could use as models. I had to pick 2 different photos for this and this was hard trying to match the photos up, but the reason I picked the ones I did as I found the background matched better together. I had to think about lighting that came onto the models face, then finding matching lighting on the backdrop image that looked like the sun was shinning on the male models face.
What I like about this image is the way the sheet hides the identity of the person but also the fact that it makes people think about how he created the final image. It creates a mystery on the person under the sheet and how the idea came across. What I like most about it is the location he used in his photograph, shooting the image in the woods creates a feeling of emptiness. I will try recreate this image or something similar, to do this I will be using my friends help also be using them as models. From there I will pick one of the images from the shoot then edit it until I’m happy.
Another Christopher McKenney picture that I liked was this one. It’s similar with the other picture, it gets peoples minds thinking and wondering where the rest of her body is and how he did it. What attracts me is the the mystery it creates, like why is the model coming out of the suitcase? Where is the rest of the body? I think I’m going to recreate this photograph and take it further into my project. Looking at the idea of using sheets and only showing parts that is hid by the sheet.
This photo as well as many others are a part of a shoot that I did with Jak to recreate photos inspired by Christopher Mckenney. This includes adding a rectangle frame around his head, and the subtle use of natural light. In order to create a sinister mood I will take it to Photoshop to edit it further and link with the style of Mckenney.
First I started of with sorting out the coloring of the photo, as it was a bright day that we took these photos. So I went to the contrast and brightness control panel on the side to even it out all the levels. I find this will also help when it comes to blending the images later on. It’s mostly used for define the models face more and calm down the natural light beaming on his face. From there I select all the parts that I want to take further and edit so they blend well together. I get close up with the image so I can select the right parts without having any of it cut off or having extra parts of the picture I don’t want, to do this I used the quick select tool
After selecting all the parts I want and deleting the parts I don’t want, I will end up with this. From here I will get close up and erase all the parts not needed.
Using the eraser tool on the side I will get close up and get ride of parts that are not needed but also to neaten up the edges. To get close up on these image I used the navigator tool in Photoshop to help move around the photo and get up close to make the edges clean and defined. I did this all the way around the frame and inside around Jak to get a clean edge everywhere.
Then looking back at the shoot photos I pick the best one with the table in, I edit it so the green isn’t so strong and blends well when I add the layer with just the model and the frame. All I do is add the layer on top then using the burn tool on Photoshop I darken the edges around the frame as I feel like this makes it blend together better.
I created this photo as an inspiration from researching a photographer called Christopher McKenney. From looking at his work it started giving me ideas of what to create and how I should start looking at modern day surrealist art. From looking at his portfolio I moved to planning photoshoots. I was happy with this photoshoot but If I could change it more I would go out and reshoot a forest for a more Autumn background similar to McKenney’s photographs. I’m glad this came out how I wanted it to, and the reason I kept the hands in the frame as I find it helps it blend in with the idea of it being surrealist photography. If I could change this I will be giving the background a different photo because I find that this current background is to bright and the lighting doesn’t fit the atmosphere that I wanted.
Dan Mountford Dan Mountford is a photographer who is popular for his work of recreating double exposures on Photoshop. When using film some people do double exposures and that creates two images layered together to create one. Dan Mountford does similar but instead of using a roll of film he does it through Photoshop. Looking at Dan Mountfords work has given me inspiration on where I want my work to go. Researching on how he does his work, I’m going to take some candid and posed portraits of people I know then do some landscape photography and pick out the final set of images that I think are suitable for each other. Dan Mountfords has a modern take on surrealism art work, instead of painting he uses more modern cameras to capture the photographs. He also uses Photoshop to create the double exposure look on his photographs. He’s developing and changing how surrealism is seen.
For my First Dan Mountford inspired shoot I rounded up these 3 photos to pick from to edit. The reason I picked the 3rd images was because I thought it showed more character about the model, it’s a different portrait most people would use. But also the background was another thing that I liked about this as it’s all clear so you’re just focusing on the mode in the middle of the photograph. But one this that I may find trick about this is trying to match colours that won’t contrast to bad with the pink puffer coat.
All I did prior was layer the images together so the landscape photo was on top of the portrait. After doing that I went to the side bar where you can adjust how you blend the layers together. To blend my layers together I used the “lighten” selection to show the important facial features of my model but also be able to see what’s the top layered image is.
As I haven’t properly cut out where I want filled, I only have a little bit of the top layer appearing on the background so I use the rubber tool to get rid of the little extra’s to make it a cleaner image. I mostly did this to erase little errors where the photos didn’t layer well together.
Also using the rubber tool I go to the settings and use a soft brush and turn the opacity to a low level. From doing this I went over parts of the original image to get more of the facial features showing, such as her eyes and mouth. I used this tool to also to fade away at the top of her head so it’s more natural and smooths better together.
What I like about this photo is the way both images contrast so well together, it brings a sense of joy. With a picture of the model laughing and they layered image being a fairground in the summer. But overall I’m not going to take this photo further because I find that the photos don’t suit each other well enough to be a final piece. Also the quality of the film camera wouldn’t be able to handle being stretched to A3. This was my first Dan Mountford inspired images that I done, and from this will help me improve on my future photos I will do.
This Is the first one of my Dan Mounford inspired images. What I like about this is the contrast between the black and white image inside compared to the greens and brown on the original image. If I could change this I would, I would find another image to go inside of the model. I may change the inside image later on in the project to see if any other photograph suits the original image better. This image was inspired by Dan Mountfords portfolio of him looking at more modern ways to do double exposure without having to use a film camera. Overall I would improve this to a point where I think it should be in one of my final images.
From this shoot this was all the final 5 photos I went down to, and the reason I picked the 2nd photo was because of it being a close up portrait but also it’s a candid photograph. There’s one very similar but I don’t like the lack of movement and how posed this photograph is. Another reason why I picked that one out of the 5 was because I had more of the body in the photo, making it seem more relaxed with slumped shoulders. There’s also more light coming in on the left side of his face reflecting more of his facial features such as his eyes and nose, making it easier when it comes to layering a darker black and white image onto.
Here’s another photo I experimented with layering while looking at Dan Mountfords work. What I like about this photo is that I've used a photo taken on colour film, but after scanning the film strips I was able to take the film into Photoshop to edit it into black and white so it matches my original image that it’s going to layer over. If I could improve this photo or add any changes I would change film photo, as the Ferris wheel is very blurred out and isn’t as noticeable as the tower. Another thing would be using the dodge tool to brighten up or highlight some of the models face. This will not be one of the photos I will be taking forward as I find so many flaws when I keep looking back at it. Also I don’t think the layered imaged worked as well as I wanted, it’s not sitting correctly on his face as I liked. But overall I’m still happy with the outcome of this image.
These were both of the images I used for my layered images. Both images were shoot in London at peak hours, with people going about their everyday lives and capturing them off guard.
This Is another Dan Mountford inspired image with the same model and same portrait but instead I changed the layered photograph to a photo I once took in London of the town houses. The reason this is all black and white is because I found it suited my landscape image of London better as before it had very strong blue and that would clash with my portrait. Both images were shot on a canon with a 50mm lens. There's’ not many thing I would change with this photo other than maybe moving the image so move of the sky was showing than the building. But overall I’m happy with how this turned out and I’m planning printing this out A3 on an Epson printer then mounting the photo onto an A3 sized piece of foam board ready to be presented.
From doing this shoot I picked out these two images to do my Dan Mountford inspired image, and the reason I picked the left portrait one was because I found it easier to work with. The lack of facial expression helps me layering and being able to pin point the the facial features that I want to be shown. What also made me pick this photograph was how close up the portrait was. When it comes to layering I would like to people to know what the image covering her face is, and if it’s too zoomed out of a portrait viewers will struggle to see.
1.
First I started with changing my photo to black and white. The reason I did this was because the image I was going to layer it was a image changed to black and white. I made certain parts such as her hair, the fence and her clothes darker.
When I’ve placed my image In the correct place I then select the right, I choose one of the right filters that help layer the photographs together. For this image I picked “Overlay� this gives a clear picture of the top layered image but also you can see the facial features from the original image. 3.
After doing this I layer the image 2. I want to go over the top to see where I want it to be place. I do this for a while, I enlarge the image, make it smaller till I found the right place for it to go.
4.After layering the two images together, I must get rid of the outer bits of the image. To do this I use the soft brush on the eraser and turn the opacity up to 100, this help get rid of the defiant parts that I don’t want in my picture. When I have got rid of all the defiant parts that are not needed, I turn the opacity down to the lowest then get close up and go around the edge of the mode so I have a clean cut line.
And lastly when the erasing is done I flatten all the layers, flattering the layers will help me when it comes to using the burn and dodge tool. The reason I use these two tools is because I can bright things up in certain areas, or darken areas to help blend the images together. After doing the burning and dodging I just do little tweaks which I think will improve the photo, then I’m finished.
Overall I’m happy with the outcome of how this photo turned out. What I liked most about it is the way I done both images black and white, I find the image layering flatters the first image. With the long strip of road heading into the horizon to people walking on the side. This image was shot with a 50mm lens to capture more of the model than the background. This photo could also relate back to my idea of passing of time, with the layered image of people going about their every day lives and how you can see the same sight every single day. If I could improve this photo, I would of done a re-shoot of that spoke and have her shoulders more in the photo so you have the whole top frame of the model. But overall I’m happy with how this came out and I wouldn’t do much to change it. I will print this out A3 size on an Epson printer than mount it onto an A3 piece of foam board ready to present.
This photo required all of the same editing as the last one. But overall this is one of my favorite Dan Mountford inspired images as I love how the layered image is so sharp, capturing people going on their everyday lives in London. What I also adore about this image is that I didn’t take a standard portrait of my model. Instead I decided to capture a posed shot of him modeling and you can see Cleary the smoke coming out. Overall I’m happy with the final outcome with this image, you can see the models facial features all Cleary as well as having a sharp landscape layering photograph inside. This photo will be one I’m taking forward into my final piece. I shall be printing off A3 sized on an Epson printer same as the other piece, then I shall be mounting onto a A3 sized piece of foam board.
FINAL IMAGES