surréaliste's photostream  

"The idea of surrealism tends quite simply towards the total recuperation of our psychic strength by a means that is none other than the vertiginous descent into ourselves, the systematic illumination of hidden places and the progressive darkening of other places, the perpetual promenade in the midst of forbidden zones."

Andre Breton, 1930

All of my life tends to reflect the great Surrealist project. To find the hidden places and shine a light on them...photography..for me...is merely a tool and an extension of this process...the grand Surrealist adventure....

In other words, there exists a way of life that embraces the creative phenomenon. By experimentation and fermentation in our collective unconscious, revolutionary thought processes can materialise into reality. A revolution of the mind is what we need and from that, we see the world in a new light and we can imagine worlds and see places, not seen before. Find the Marvellous in the Mundane.

Surrealism and photography is not about producing oddball or weird images. But the poetic impulse often does create such images from automatic thought processes in the mind. If one can capture such moments of the mind into the photograph, the oineric and uncanny in life can and often does turn out as Surreal. But Surreal alone does not produce a Surrealist work. To produce something Surrealist, one must be a Surrealist in the first place, otherwise it remains merely surreal and quite possibly in this day and age where the 'fetischism of commodity' is the normative paradigm, far removed from the actual Revoluntionary Movement that is Surrealism.

To quote my comrades in the Movement:

"It is absolutely necessary that the poetic drama can not be dissociated from the revolutionary drama, so that all powers remain everybody's business, the matter of passion into action alone can give consciences to the delight of living, not attained as sharing without reservation.

October 1994

Groupe de Paris du mouvement surréaliste. Paris Group of the surrealist movement "

Gear:
I shoot far more monochrome than colour on average.
I mostly shoot Film; shooting digital for Infrared work only. Although I still shoot film infrared too!

Nikon F80 (35mm Film) (Auto-Focus 35mm SLR)
Rolleicord Va TLR (120 Film) (100% manual everything!)
Lomo Fisheye2 (35 mm Film with fixed fisheye lens)
Nikon Coolpix 8700 (For digital infrared work only. I rarely do much else with it)
Nikon FM3a (Manual Focus 35mm SLR)

" Member FWF#2451 "
"FASHION WORLD"





Note:
All images are Copyright Surreal Life 2008,
and may not be used in any way without written permission.