Surreal Shores: A Senior Surreal Photo by Kevin Chan (2014)

My surrealist piece has two main ‘transformations'. The first is the tranquil lake in the background which mirrors the mountains on its distant shores. The foreground of the lake turns into a turbulent wave which comes directly out of the picture frame and floods the bottom third of the piece. The second transformation is the outer picture frame, which opens into a world of depth rather than the flatness regularly associated with paintings or photographs. Creating this piece required learning High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. HDR photography requires taking multiple photos of the same subject with varying exposures, merging them, and picking the best parts of each photo to enhance details. Then, using the HDR Pro tool in Photoshop, I adjusted the images to achieve a surreal effect. In this piece, the wood behind the frame as well as the frame itself was taken using HDR photography.

The meaning behind my piece is to show that there is beauty in the harsh realities of life. On the outside, the rough wood background and volatile waves seem rather uninviting, but as you go further into the picture, you will find peace, calm, and beauty. This is the same way you can find beauty in urban decay, or in the everyday lives of those in third-world countries, as you so often find in a National Geographic Magazine.The complementary color scheme of blue and gold also creates contrast in the image and accentuates the difference between peace and disturbance.