Surrealism in the works of Thomas Barbey
Photographer Thomas Barbey (Thomas Barbéy) creates surreal collages with deep meaning. At first glance it seems that his work is done using only a photo editor but actually it is the magic of skilled hands and the result of double exposure. The creation of his works he starts with a concept and then takes old photographs (of which there are many in his family archive) and comes up with incredible virtual worlds in which intertwines reality and fiction. Magical world of photographer infinitely varied and similar to the reality, the alternative to our existence.
1. Thomas Barbey was born in Connecticut in 1957. When the boy was only six months old, his family moved to Europe, where Thomas grew up and was educated. After Italy and Germany, lived in Switzerland for 17 years. From the second year left the University of Geneva to pursue a career in the music business.
2. After a successful appearance at the Italian music charts, he moved to Italy and remained there for 15 years, where he successfully made a career in the music business, and photography was his favorite hobby. Imbued with the European spirit, Thomas became interested in not only photography, but also the geometric aesthetic of Escher and Magritte.
3. From that moment he began his dizzying career photographer and conceptual, creating worlds, beautiful and frightening in its surrealism. In the early 90-ies he had already owned a successful fashion-photo Studio, and in 1995 moved back to the US.
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7. Today Thomas Barba lives and works with his wife Suzanne in Las Vegas. His wife is his business partner, and the barb creates a black and white surrealistic images that he calls photomixage.
8. "Inspiration for my works I draw from the experience of many years traveling around the world, daily life, as well as from your favorite artists such as Roger Dean. I always carry a few cameras."
9. "The process of photo montage starts with concept. Then I choose the negatives that will use".
10. "Then, you create a project for future work — I carefully choose the printing process. Placing the negatives on top of each other, I print them at the same time. Also big role plays prepared in advance, double exposure, photo retouching, or a combination of all of the above".
11. "Sometimes I ryushirou and/or use of the brush on the collages before re-photograph them. Then I create a test negative to print multiple photos".
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13. "Although I am constantly asked how I do it, I wish people just looked at these pictures without puzzling the technical side of the issue."
14. "A visual inspiration and imagination is not a technical skill that is taught in school, and my personal qualities, a gift from God if you want."
15. "It's the only way to explain where I get my ideas."
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Keywords: Double exposure | Surrealism | Photographer | B/W