Photography: Write a personal essay based on a photograph. Use the readings from Unit 2, if you are so inclined, as inspiration. You should choose a photograph that really affects you strongly – it may even elicit conflicting reactions from you. Engage as many senses as possible in your description of it. Be vivid. What does it mean to you? Does the image tell stories? Are there stories the photograph doesn’t tell, or truths it conceals? You should include a scan or link with your paper to the photograph you are writing about.

Salvador Dali in “Dali Atomicus”

Halsman, Philippe. Dali Atomicus. 1948.

       Long before the advent of digital photography and the ability to “photoshop” images, or even create them from scratch on computer, photographers such as Phillipe Halsman were creating surreal photo art the hard way- by staging the subjects carefully and using whatever trickery they had at hand. Dali Atomicus was the result of Halsman's collaboration with the famous surrealist painter Salvador Dali in 1948. It is a famous photograph that resides in the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, when not out on on loan to temporary exhibitions in other museums. And I think it embodies the concept of an “accidental masterpiece”, even though, ironically, it was very well planned beforehand.

       At first glance, the photo is certainly striking enough. Dali, three cats, two paintings, furniture, and a large stream of water are all magically floating above the floor. It is a very dynamic scene that has been frozen in time, like a snapshot of a dream sequence. After you view it for a minute or so, you begin wondering how it was accomplished. It's easy enough to deduce that Mr. Dali must have jumped off of the floor, and from there you can extrapolate that assistants, out of the field-of-vision, must have thrown water and cats simultaneously. I own several cats, and find that scenario quite humorous- chances are they were not very happy to be models subject to such treatment!

        From the website Shooting Film, I learned that it took 28 different attempts to get the desired result. On a cue, Dali would jump, and assistants threw the cats and a bucket of water. The other static objects (paintings and furniture) were for the most part already suspended by wires, with the one exception being the chair at far left, which yet another off-camera assistant held up by hand. So think about how tedious this must have become as attempt after attempt went on! They had to mop the floor, round up the three more and more traumatized felines, and wait while the latest photo was developed in the darkroom. The photo shoot lasted six hours. But the results were well worth the effort.

       My favorite aspect of the photo is the expression on Dali's face. He looks ecstatic, as if he were actually levitating and swept up in this moment. His paintbrush and pallette are at the ready, and he's gazing upward, as if there is seemingly something above even more fantastical that he is witnessing and will include on the canvas beside him. And it is there that one finds a subtle detail that is easy to miss at first- he has begun painting a very detailed replica of the cats outlines. This makes no sense- it would be impossible to anticipate their positions beforehand. Slowly you realize that Dali would have had to have waited until the final photo was agreed upon, and then to have painted the cats onto the photo itself. This, of course, is what happened. But it's a brilliant detail that adds to the illusion.

      There are two more subtleties to discover. In the painting to the right (which is a work by Dali titled Leda Atomicus), the objects there: a pedestal, a swan, and his wife Gala's nude torso-are also painted suspended in mid-air. Even the body of water behind them is hovering, and this is echoed by the actual water thrown into the set. Finally, look carefully at the shadow beneath Dali and his easel. There's two small details to be appreciated. First, it is a plausible actual shadow, except that we can see that the frame on the easel was empty... a clue that Dali indeed had to go back in after the photo to retouch it. But better yet, try looking at the shadow when you rotate it clockwise. Maybe it's just me, but I see the silhouette of a cat! A coincidence? Maybe, but I don't think so. Dali was a master craftsman who could paint practically anything with near photo-realism, and this includes shadows. Just as he did with the cat images in the painting, it appears that he tweaked this shadow as well. Taken as a whole, the print is stunning, and these meticulously crafted added elements redefine the concept of what a photo is. In this case, it is actually a mixed-media work due to these small additions.

       I believe there is much to be reminded of by this work of art, here in our more modern and technologically advanced world. A modestly talented photo editor could achieve similar effects today with some computer software. But because society nowadays takes such processing for granted, many of us would never think outside-the-box in the manner that Halsman and Dali did. They had a shared vision and were willing to do whatever it took to realize it- six hours of physical effort and dozens of attempts. One suspects they would have gone much longer if it had been necessary.

       It's a lesson that would benefit many of those in photography and film-making careers. The easy way isn't always best. When will the movie-going public finally tire of the modern glut of Marvel Comics characters and Pixar animationism, all done by CGI (computer generated images)? Instead of just recycling a money-making formula, more of these studios should be embracing the unknown- and giving us new stories and images instead of re-makes.

       Technology is a very useful tool, but there's a danger when we rely on it too much. It used to be that only truly talented (or at least unique) vocalists got recording contracts in the music business. But now, thanks to “auto-tune”, almost anyone's voice can be fixed in the mix. And the result is a plethora of pop artists and songs that all sound blandly the same. I don't intend to over-generalize; certainly there are still many true artists out there that respect their craft, whatever field that may be, and put the time and effort into honoring the more time-tested methods. I merely make the observation that they are a minority.

       I hope that new artists will continue to be inspired by the example of Dali Atomicus and similar work from generations ago. Thomas Edison stated it well: “Genius is one per cent inspiration, and ninety-nine per cent perspiration”. Maybe it's time for artists to expend a little more energy and a little less clicking of “mouses”- let's imagine the cats in the photo chasing the mice away.

Works Cited

Hmoong, Khanh. “How the Famous 'Dali Atomicus' Photo Was Taken”. Shooting Film.

            Shootingfilm.net, 5 Apr. 2013. Web. 19 Jan. 2015.