Photographer Thomas Barbéy grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. Inspired by artists such as Roger Dean, Phillipe Druillet and H.R Giger, he started drawing at the age of 13, using black Chinese Ink ("encre de Chine") and gouaches to add colour. Barbéy began his career designing posters for music bands in Geneva, he then relocated to Milan, Italy, where he made a living as a successful recording artist, lyricist and fashion photographer. Now residing in Las Vegas, Barbéy has been a photographer for over 20 years travelling the world with his camera and exhibiting in galleries all over the globe.
Style
His work has a very distinct style - he juxtaposes two or more totally unrelated subjects to produce highly creative photo montages. This can be anything from a pair of zebras intertwined with a piano keyboard, to elephants with tree trunks for legs or trees topped with clouds. He combines scenic images, still life and portraiture to form compositions that are both surreal and whimsical in feel. Barbéy only uses black and white images and occasionally sepia tone and experiments with perspective in much of his work.
Creative Process
Barbéy often stores images for up to a decade until the perfect opportunity to use them in a project presents itself. Only when an image fits perfectly does he use it and it's usually the combination of two or more negatives that create his final vision. Sometimes Barbéy has a very clear creative vision that naturally comes together and other times ideas come to him by accident. He subjects every individual image to what he calls the 'So What?' test - meaning that if he is not touched by it in some way or he cannot derive any meaning from it, he will scrap it and move on to another idea. The title he gives each final image is almost as important as the work itself, as it helps to communicate the meaning of the piece to the viewer.
Equipment
When taking 35mm film photographs, Barbéy likes to use a Canon AE1 SLR camera. He creates his surreal montages with the help of an enlarger in his dark room.
Background to Barbéy
'Drive Thru Gallery' - Surrealism series
Subject matter and visual qualities: The subject matter is of an open doorway, with traffic seemingly flooding into an art gallery from the suspension bridge beyond. With the framed artwork hanging on both sides of the image, 'Drive Thru Gallery' combines the idea of busy city life and art.
Composition: The bridge and open doorway are the main focus of the photograph and the images of the hanging artwork and the road are used to create leading lines that draw the viewer's eye into the centre of the picture and give it a sense of perspective.
Mood: I think the mood of the image displays contrast - the tranquility of the static artwork versus the frantic nature of everyday life.
However, the use of black and white gives the picture a more subdued quality and creates a contrast between light and dark.
Meaning: In this photomontage, I think the artist is trying to convey a specific message - that in their busy lives, people don't take enough time to appreciate the beauty around them. This idea is further reinforced by the fact that people are on the move in their cars, while the artwork is elevated and out of their line of sight.
Techniques: Barbéy uses a technique called double and multiple exposure to create his images. He layers the different negatives on top of one another and then prints them simultaneously to produce a single combined image.
Editing: I think the editing has been done by hand rather than digitally because Barbéy uses a dark room to put negatives together and develop his images.
Personal Reflections: I am inspired by the surreal quality of Barbéy's work and how effortlessly the individual images fit together, to such an extent that they almost look like a single image. I also really like how the title of the piece makes the viewer ponder its meaning. To me, the words 'Drive Thru' suggest not wanting to stop and enjoy or savour something, as a drive-through is fast and convenient.
Taking some of the ideas and techniques used in Barbéy's work, I decided to create my own surrealist photomontage.
Photoshoot Plan
Title: 'Outdoor Classroom'
Creative idea
During the Covid-19 pandemic, people the world over had to change the way they live - whether at home, work, school, or in their social lives. Despite life being out-of-the-ordinary and strange, we as human beings have shown ourselves to be adaptable and able to cope with change and adversity. My plan was to convey this positive overall message in my image.
Composition
For my photoshoot, I photographed a girl styled in a school uniform to the waist (shirt and blazer), with pyjama bottoms instead of trousers/skirt, seated outside on a giant apple, holding an iPad. The juxtaposition of unexpected objects, locations and situations is a characteristic of Barbéy's work. However, as is the case with much of Barbéy's work, the inclusion of an apple in my composition is symbolic and not as random as it first seems. Apples have long been associated with knowledge and learning, hence the origins of the phrase 'an apple for the teacher'. In addition, the school child working on an iPad, with the Apple logo clearly visable, adds a whimsical humour that is characterstic of many of Thomas Barbéy's images.
My proposed composition was a response to the theme of 'Out of Place' and entitled: 'Outdoor Classroom'.
Equipment
I used a digital camera, tripod and camera phone for the shoot.
Props
To ensure the right height and body position of my model and to make editing in the real apple much easier, I photographed the model sitting on a large exercise ball. I used a real apple, as this needed to be edited into the final image. I also included an iPad, which my model would be looking at.
Location
I chose to use a wood as my backdrop image and decided to take inspiration from Barbéy by framing the image and creating a 'corridor' or pathway using man-made features. This technique can be seen in his 'Drive Thru Gallery' image with the use of a door frame, as well as the photograph 'Inner Beauty'.
Here, Barbéy uses a photo of a mouth containing a cobbled pathway that leads to the Taj Mahal. I went on location to a library, as rows of bookshelves would help to create very defined pathways and fit in with the educational theme of my image. I also took my model shots outside, to ensure that the lighting looked natural and consistent with the chosen backdrop of the image. I took my photos during the early part of the day, to make the most of natural light.
Model
For my shoot, I used a girl of school age.
Editing
To emulate Barbéy's work I converted my photos into black and white. This gave my images a more dramatic and surreal feel. Rather than produce my image by hand, I used Photoshop to recreate the double and multiple exposure technique used by Barbéy.
Photographer Thomas Barbéy grew up in Geneva, Switzerland. Inspired by artists such as Roger Dean, Phillipe Druillet and H.R Giger, he started drawing at the age of 13, using black Chinese Ink ("encre de Chine") and gouaches to add colour. Barbéy began his career designing posters for music bands in Geneva, he then relocated to Milan, Italy, where he made a living as a successful recording artist, lyricist and fashion photographer. Now residing in Las Vegas, Barbéy has been a photographer for over 20 years, travelling the world with his camera and exhibiting in galleries all over the globe.
Style
His work has a very distinct style - he juxtaposes two or more totally unrelated subjects to produce highly creative photo montages. This can be anything from a pair of zebras intertwined with a piano keyboard, to elephants with tree trunks for legs or trees topped with clouds. He combines scenic images, still life and portraiture to form compositions that are both surreal and whimsical in feel. Barbéy only uses black and white images and occasionally sepia tone and experiments with perspective in much of his work.
Creative Process
Barbéy often stores images for up to a decade until the perfect opportunity to use them in a project presents itself. Only when an image fits perfectly does he use it and it's usually the combination of two or more negatives that create his final vision. Sometimes Barbéy has a very clear creative vision that naturally comes together and other times ideas come to him by accident. He subjects every individual image to what he calls the 'So What?' test - meaning that if he is not touched by it in some way or he cannot derive any meaning from it, he will scrap it and move on to another idea. The title he gives each final image is almost as important as the work itself, as it helps to `communicate the meaning of the piece to the viewer.
Equipment
When taking 35mm film photographs, Barbéy likes to use a Canon AE1 SLR camera. He creates his surreal montages with the help of an enlarger in his dark room.
Background to Barbéy
Contact sheet - Apple
Ideas and intentions
I took a variety of photos for use in my Thomas Barbéy inspired photographic montage. Firstly, I set up a studio space in the classroom to take some shots of an apple, positioning the apple against a white background to make editing easier later on. It was an interesting process because I achieved a range of different quality images of the apple. Once I was finished, I uploaded my photos and chose my favourite, which had the best light and was a well focused image.
I also went on location to several libraries to take pictures of bookshelves and took photos of my model on an exercise ball, so that the angle of her legs would be in the correct position when she was placed on the apple. For my background image, I used a photo of the bluebell wood at Hatchlands Park, which I had taken recently. I really like how the sunlight shining through the trees creates a dappled effect on the carpet of bluebells.
I decided to edit a selection of my photos using Pixlr E at school as it is easy to access within school hours and Photoshop at home as it is easier to use. Editing allowed me to enhance my photos and combine and cut out different images.
Personal reflections
In the end I was happy with my edits because I was able to get a nice clean line around the apple and the model's hair, which can be very difficult to achieve when it has not been shot against a green screen. When I was editing, I also changed the angle of the bookshelf to make it more upright, as when I cut it out from its orginal background it looked like it was leaning backwards slightly and the angle looked wrong next to the other elements of my composition. Using an exercise ball really helped to ensure the position of the model would be right when she was placed on the apple, and I'm really pleased with how this turned out.
I think my work reflects Thomas Barbéy's image because I used the same idea of having a corridor/pathway perspective and like all of his work, my composition had a clear theme that I wanted to convey.
EBI
I'm quite pleased with my final image, and the only thing I would change is the image of the apple. The original apple image was very red and had little colour variation on its skin. When it was changed into black and white the skin markings were less visable, making it less obvious that it's an apple. In hindsight, I should have chosen a red and green apple, so that there was more contrast on the skin.
Original images
Additional editing in Photoshop
After importing the Pixlr E edited photos of the bookcase and the apple into Photoshop, I created individual layers for each image.
I dragged the layers into the main document and then did some further editing of the bookshelves, marking out the outline of each shelf using the pen tool and following the outline of the books at the end of each shelf. This created a more precise outline.
I then switched on the layer with the apple and used the transform / scale function to size and centre the apple between the bookshelves.
Cropping the bookshelves
I wanted to widen the gap between the bookshelves so they framed the picture and to create more space for my model. I tried using the crop tool on the image but this cropped all the layers, so I searched on Google how to do this.
I copied the bookshelves to a new layer and converted them to a Smart Object, this meant I could just crop the bookshelf layer. I cropped the LH bookshelf out of the picture and then moved the RH bookshelf to the edge of the document using the arrow keys. I then repeated this step for the LH side of the bookshelf.
Sizing the apple and model
I opened the picture of my model and dragged this into the main document as a layer. I then used transform / scale to size the ball next to the apple image so my subect would be in proportion.
Cropping model image
I used the lasso tool to do a rough cut of the model from the background and used select / inverse to delete the background.
Creating outline of model
I used the pen tool to create a path around the outline of the model to crop out the rest of the background. I did this by zooming in, as I didn't want to alter the proportions.
Cutting out the model
Once I had created a path all the way around the model, I deleted the remaining background using select/inverse.
Positioning the model
I turned on the apple layer and used transform / scale to move the model so that she was sat on the apple.
Final image
Completed black and white image: 'Outdoor Classroom'
Finalising the picture
I then turned on the bookshelf and bluebell wood layers and used the transform/scale to get the bluebell wood in the desired position.
I saved the image as a JPG and then converted it to black and white to reflect the style of Thomas Barbéy.
