Surreal Photographs

Now for something a bit different. A look at surreal photography and the surreal photographs of Edward M. Fielding. The entire portfolio of surreal images can be found here: http://edward-fielding.pixels.com/art/surreal

Surreal is an adjective meaning having the qualities of surrealism or bizarre. Synonyms include unreal, bizarre, unusual, weird, strange, freakish, unearthy, uncanny, dreamlike and phantasmagorical.
Surrealism is a 20th-century avant-garde movement in art and literature that sought to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind, for example by the irrational juxtaposition of images. ‎Salvador Dalí, ‎André Breton and ‎Max Ernst are some of the well known artists of the surrealism movement.

When it comes to surrealism in photography some of the better know photographers are Surrealist photographs of Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Andre Breton, Brassai, Salvador Dali, Philippe Halsman, Andre Kertesz and Hans Bellmer are considered pioneers of art with their disorienting and exquisite creations, advancing the cultural movement that began in the early 1920s. Many of these artist painted and experimented with the relatively young medium of photography.

Man Ray is a personal favorite of mine ever since studying the history of photograph at Boston University.

More recently Jerry Uelsmann is one of the best known surrealist photographers, working with traditional black and white film and paper technology, Uelsmann creates technically challenging surreal images in the darkroom.

Portfolio of Surreal Photography by Edward M. Fielding

I have Jerry Uselmann’s book –Uelsmann: Process and Perception Paperback – December 1, 1985 by Jerry N. Uelsmann –

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– in which he takes the reader through the making of one of his iconic images. And I like the way he describes the process as a series of experimentation and playing with images. Its the same way I work with surreal photography. Jerry says he never knows where the image will end up and I feel the same way. I might start out with one notion but end up with something completely different at the end of the day. The images themselves often suggest the direction and sometimes lead one down a dead end alley only to find an escape door into another possibility. Below are some examples of my surreal photography work which are the result of playing around with images from my collection.