Photo Synthesis – Jerry Uelsmann Review

Photo Synthesis by Jerry Uelsmann

This is a great introduction to the world of Uelsmann’s photo magic. I saw this book 20 years ago in a creative writing class, of all places, and made the effort some years later (after Amazon.com was invented) to seek it out and am glad I did. Looking back on my career and life since then, I can say unequivocally that it changed my thinking and helped set me on a creative path I’m still having fun exploring.

I copied & pasted this review via Goodreads.com, a site I’m only now getting into, since – although I love good writing – I’m always hard-pressed to find works that I can really sink my teeth into. How fitting that my first review there is for a book of photography… but whatever. It really is a fantastic collection, and if you’re at all interested in perusing some mind-blowing images, I highly recommend it.

What do you think? Are you on Goodreads? How do you find the next book you’d like to read? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Immaterial Angel

My Latest Surrealist Photomontage:

“Immaterial Angel”

See full size and source files at Flickr.

Views of fire-scarred trees from Yellowstone, an aerial shot of the Potomac river, and a stylized angle of local sculpture from my city (details forthcoming) blend together in this surrealist photomontage. I chose the title to combine the multiple interpretations of “immaterial” meaning “spiritual, rather than physical,” or “unimportant or irrelevant under certain circumstances.” I like the notion that an angelic form can encapsulate these concepts and at the same time the viewer can take in the sky-bound point of view that an angel might have, with all of this framed among remnants of trees and new growth spawning from a forest fire — even such devastation can be immaterial in that it is required for new growth. Check out more of my photomontage art at rsmithings.com.

What do you think? Ever created a piece of art blending unrelated elements to achieve a unified message? Does this kind of art resonate with you? What is your interpretation at first glance? Let us hear from you in the comments.