Visual Communication research blog 3 Erik Johansson

A Swedish born photographer Erik Johansson focus his work on surrealism by using combining lots of different images together creating one image that is extremely life like. This can range from suing only a few images to 100 of little ones within his work he spends many hours on Photoshop creating these image as he has to cut out every individual image using the pen tool and then place the on to the original image this called image manipulation The work he creates really bends reality and makes you think about the way we perceive the world.

i really like the first set of image i have chosen as i feel they have a dark feel to them. Most of them are shot at night or have lots of grey within in giving them a very dismal and erey tone to the images. these images are really hard to understand when it comes narratives however this the way surrealism is meant to be.i find the composition are done well in these images as Erik would of really had to think about where to place the images to create these images. I also feel a lot of patience and effort needed to go into these images. The lighting in these images is amazing as they they are all light yet show darkness. I really like the dream like feel to these images and how they really make you think about what is going off in the image. Even though the images are quite dark the dream like effect does make the images have a element of calm to them. 

These images are a lot brighter and have a lot more positive feel to them. I really like how real the images look and how all the separate images really work well together. These images a a whole are all quite bright when it comes to lighting. Erik has also use computational elements like rule of thirds making the images more appealing to the eye. Also in his work he has mainly used everyday objects a lot larger than we seen normally in a landscape i really think this idea works as it takes everyday objects and makes them surreal. The lighting has a lot to do with creating the dream like effect. 

i find his work really interesting as i really like the idea of making reality surreal also so much time and effort must of gone into these images. They are done so accurately and do not look like lots of different images yet they look like one big real image. i think one factor that makes Erik's work so unique is the lighting as the lighting is amazing in all his images and really help when it comes to making his images so unique and surreal.

Visual Comunications Research blog 2 Steve Mccurry

known as one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photographers for more than 30 years for his distinctive and unique style. He originally studied film at Pennsylvania state university he then went on to work for a local newspaper. He did many years of freelance work and then took his first of many trips to India travelling with nothing more than a bag of clothes and another of film. His work has featured world wide in magazines and his work has been a frequent contribution to national geographic one of the most well known magazines in the world.


He shoot with both digital and film however he says he prefers to shoot with film, Eastman Kodak let him shoot the last ever produced roll of Kodachrome transparency film. which was processed in July 2010 by Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas and will be housed at the George Eastman House.

I find his work very distinctive and are truly eye catching and all of them are full of bright and vivid colours. He focuses a lot on his subjects eyes in the images I think this ejects the images with a lot of emotion and they people where intimidated by the camera as it is a unfamiliar object to them because they are from a destitute country. The depth of field in these images are amazing and the only thing in this images that is in focus is the subject this makes you focus on the subject and the great detail within the face. I like the fact the images are soft yet have so much detail within then. I also like the mystery in these images are you do not the back story to these people, you do not know what they have been threw or how they feel. Most of his portraits are staged but stage but in a natural well and all staged the same or very similar. The bottom left image is his most famous image of all time this images is titled "the afghan girl"in the history of the National Geographic magazine and her face became famous as the cover photograph on the June 1985 issue. I especially like the block colours in this images the image is simple yet affective. I think one of the factors that made this images so popular was because of the girls eye. They are a very vivid light green and as well as her pupils are not dilated as there is a lot of light in the image the colour stands out more and almost looks as if you are looking threw her with the non expressive look on her face. This still continues to be one of McCurrys most distinctive and well known images.