Location: United States
Originally from the Carolinas, California fine art photographer, Perry Hambright, was strongly drawn to the great surrealists (especially Rene Magritte, M.C.Escher and Jerry Uelsmann) which has shaped his aesthetic. His contemporary work features marriages between composed scenes and striking surrealistic additions. Hambright graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology, earning his BFA in Photography as a Fine Art. Early on he combined various film negatives into single surreal prints and has continued to merge multiple digital images into works from the mind's eye. His aim is to bring about inquisitive thoughts, spark imaginations, and please the eye.
Most of my surreal work are images that marry multiple shots to make a new piece depicting something that would not exist in the real world.
Starting with a background scene I’ve shot, I typically edit in a few additional photographic elements so that, together, they create a realistic looking image, but which is obviously surreal.
I do not use AI generation software or services of any kind. Everything is created by combining different photographic images in Photoshop using traditional photo editing methods.
Hugely influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, here I created a monolith from an image of labradorite and added it to a shot I took in Death Valley. Looked great. But it needed more so I turned it into a portal between dimensions.
One of many fields of wild mustard flowers I've shot around Santa Barbara. In this one the added stagecoach image was at a good angle and the lighting matched well. But the traveling poultry felt like the icing on top.
A serrine scene of a bike/walking path I shot in Willets, CA. There was nothing on the path until I added a bike. And then the rider. Who has stopped to take a seat by the path. And who encounters a friend there.
This started with the flattened can. I placed that in the road scene (where it was flattened?). But it needed to be upright and on edge to match the scene so I put in the roller skater and her skateboard/dolly. Now it's something you don't see everyday.
A mossy old redwood stump in a dappled forest setting. A nice shot. But if there were bubbles rising from it with a young photographer there to see one of the bubbles has a feather floating inside it. That would be even nicer.
Some of my works end up featuring the subject from the original scene I shot instead of the added elements. Here the tree stands out. But the old clocks are obviously what this is all about.
“Time Races On”
“Welcome Wagon”
“There You Are”
“Casualty Collection Day”
“Bubble Stump”
“The End of Time”
