Joel Robison is a fine art photographer from Canada, he now lives and works in the UK. He produces photographs which mix reality with a fantasy/whimsical world. He has seen popularity across the world and has worked with clients including: Coca-Cola, FIFA, Yahoo, Adobe, Oprah Magazine, Mariott, ArcAngel, Trevillion, PhotoNews Canada, and many more.
Artist Examples
Artist Analysis
In this image we can see a person with a magnifying glass instead of a head, alone (except from a stray butterfly) in a forest, this fits with the title of this artwork ‘transformation’ – His head has transformed into a magnifying glass, giving it an abstract feel. The person is focusing on the butterfly using their ‘head’, this shows how he is absorbed by nature and isolated from the distractions which surround us every day. The subject matter has been observed directly as the ‘transformation’ of the person is placed in the centre of the piece.
Most of his photographs have a square aspect ratio, this frames the subject, drawing attention to the focus of the image. His photographs typically use a shallow depth of field to also achieve this effect. He contrasts the dominant bright red colour of the person’s jumper with the natural green and brown colours of the forest to offer separation between the subject and background. The butterfly also has a colourful appearance to highlight its importance in the image.
This image was made using Photoshop, it may have been composed of four images, one with the subject and the background, one without the subject and just the background, one of the magnifying glass and finally one with the butterfly. These will then have been layered on top of each other with the head of the subject removed and replaced with the magnifying glass. The artist will have used a low aperture to take the photos in order to achieve the shallow depth of field. The composition of this image will have needed to be planned out beforehand in order to realise the final piece.
Looking at this image, it makes you feel at peace, it is visibly connected with emotions such as serenity and tranquillity. In life, absorbing yourself in nature can lead to you feeling more relaxed, this image therefore acts as a proxy, carrying these emotions between nature and the viewer. The work looks generally soothing and quiet.
My Edit
To create this image, I followed these steps in Photoshop:
1. I imported both images into the document.
2. I downloaded a jigsaw piece shape with no background and added it to the document.
3. I right-clicked the thumbnail of the puzzle shape and chose “Select pixels” to select its outline.
4. I selected the foreground layer and right-clicked the selection. I chose “New layer via cut” to create a new layer with the puzzle shape cut out.
5. I used the “Free Transform” tool to move and resize the new layer.
6. I added a drop shadow layer with a beige colour and zero spread and blur to the puzzle piece.
7. I also added a drop shadow to the foreground landscape layer to create some depth between it and the background moon layer.