Bored Panda got in touch with the artist to get to know more about him and his work.
We asked the artist where it all began. “My father is an artist, and my mother is a writer. Much of my childhood was spent in their different workspaces, and I’ve seen how creative technology changed for both of them over the years, and I have always been fascinated with new ways of creating.”
Ben Robins seems to be very interested in creating new manipulations since he creates constantly and feels like he never runs out of ideas. We were wondering what has inspired him so much.
“Many years ago, I was challenged to do the 365 Photo Project and take a creative self-portrait every day for a year – I got as far as 232 before missing one day, so I failed the challenge but got a taste for trying really weird photo ideas. I started using myself in photos mostly because I didn’t want other people to think I was insane.”
The artist also shared his creative process. “I have a very long list of notes, usually written just before I fall asleep (f.e. ‘Banana head – peel eyebrows? Get bananas.’). I’ve found it very useful to sketch out ideas so I have a notion of what the photo will look like, but I’m not much of a sketch artist, so they usually look like a madman’s doodles.”
To make surreal photography seem real and confuse the hell out of us viewers, it takes good knowledge of photography as well as post-production.
Ben shared: “When taking photos, I like to capture every texture rather than rely too much on using brushes, paint fill, etc. to fill in the image – when you have an actual photo of skin texture, or shadows falling just the right way across an object, it makes the image that much more believable. I like to make pictures that are strange but not too far from a recognizably real scene (even if people’s heads have become balloons or pinecones or whatever).”
When the first photo manipulation was created in the 1860s, we did not have such technology as per today. The artist shared what he uses to make his artwork.
“I shoot on a Canon r6 and use either Speedlite flashes or studio lighting where possible – if that fails, a handy window, some white paper, and kitchen foil will do in a pinch! Once shot, I do the physical manipulation of images on Photoshop and then edit color, tone, etc. on Lightroom.”
We were wondering if to create photo manipulations, Ben went to study photography or graphic design, or if it came into his life the other way around.
“I didn’t study photography at university, although that’s mostly what I was doing when I should have been studying my actual coursework. Everyone comes to photography on a different path, and mine involved a lot of very late nights working out what the different buttons do on a university copy of Photoshop.”
Ben doesn’t live off the photo manipulations yet, but he has plans for the future. So feel free to follow his Instagram if you like what he does and see him grow.
“I currently make a living mostly in product photography and animation, as well as wedding and theatre events. My plans for the future involve taking photo manipulations out into the world to find new projects and purposes for my images. There isn’t a limit to what’s possible when creating unusual artwork, and I’d very much like to do my part in making the world a slightly weirder place.”
