The author created a surrealist image by combining two photos to place facial features on a bridge, inspired by stories of trolls living under bridges. They centered the bridge for depth and contrasted its straight lines with the busy background. Black and white tone added severity and realism while evoking something slightly evil. Famous surrealist Jerry Uelsmann similarly combines images, placing lips on a forest path to imply something is watching. Both use facial features in the landscape to suggest fantasy characters and black and white tones suit the surreal and eerie feelings. The author prefers Uelsmann's technique of adding depth and shadows to the lips for more contrast with the background.

1. Connecting Essay 3:
- My surrealist image. - Photography by Jerry Uelsmann.
For my surrealist image I combined two images from my first and second shoots
to place the facial features across the bridge. It was kind of inspired by the
typical fairytale story of the trolls that live under the bridge, but instead, it is like
the troll is the bridge. I centered the bridge within the composition, as I liked
how it added depth for the viewers’ eye line. The straight lines within the bridge
also add an interesting pattern, which contrasts nicely with the business of the
background. I chose to keep the image black and white as I felt that the tone
added a sense of severity and realism to the image. It also added a darker,
slightly evil feeling to the photograph.
Jerry Uelsmann famously uses multiple images and compresses them together to
create his well-know surrealist photographs. He has placed the image of the lips
on the path that is leading through the forest, to give the impression that an
unknown character is watching over the location. The use of black and white
tones gives the entire image an eerie, spooky feeling, which suits the forest
location really well. The lines in the path add extra depth the further back they
go, whilst they also interesting contrast with the vertical lines within the
surrounding trees. I also like the shadows within the lips as it makes the entire
image look more real and also adds texture and shape to that section of the
image.
Obviously, both of our images connect because the construction is very similar.
We have both used the idea of facial features – particularly the lips – to create a
character that is virtually living as part of the forest within the floor, giving the
impression of a fantasy character or monster. We have both also used the black
and white tones, as I feel this is more appropriate with a surrealist image,
especially within the forest as it adds to the eeriness associated with such a
setting. Whilst I prefer my image for having a more central direction with the
bridge in the composition, I prefer Jerry’s technique as the lips actually have
more depth themselves because they still have shadows and it creates more
shape, which contrasts with the basicness of the surrounding background. I
actually think I should have made my image lighter; now looking at Jerry’s
example, as I think it makes the idea look more realistic, whilst my image looks
like it has been created for a Fantasy purpose.