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In the Eyes of a Child: A Senior Surreal Photo by Emma Bridgland (2015)

In this surreal piece that I made, there are goldfish swimming through the air in a garden. On top on one of the goldfish is a deformed head that is melting on the fish. The head is orange and has scales. I used three different pictures for this image. I took a picture of a garden and made it black and white. I also used infrared. I took one picture of a goldfish and made it a PNG. I also made that image in black and white, and I multiplied it so there are a few goldfish floating around. For the head, I took a photo of my little brother and cropped just his head. I then took the image of the goldfish and blew it up and put it over his face. I decreased the opacity and used layer mask to wrap the goldfish pattern over the face. I then placed the image on top of one of this fish and used liquify to distort the face and make it melt over the fish.

This image is supposed to tell the story of inside a child's mind. It is his view of the world, one that is falling apart and doesn't quite make sense. I used orange because it is a bold color that can represent heat and fire. I used the fire like color to represent destruction. Although this kid's world is falling apart, he uses his imagination to make sense of the events going on around him. His face is distorted because he feels as though he is different from everyone else. His eyes were made big because it shows that he sees everything. The fish floating represent how he is like a fish trapped in a fish bowl, because he will never get out of his destructive, confusing life. The garden represents his escape into his imagination. It is his safe spot.
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