Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry Uelsmann is considered to be the forerunner of the photomontage movement in the 20th century. Uelsmann is famous for his extensive use photo-manipulation in the darkroom. 

Uelsmann creates his works by combining multiple negatives into one image. He frequently uses a photo enlarger to make objects and scenes larger than they are in reality. The combinations of multiple objects and scenes end up creating incredibly surrealistic landscapes.  

His style features very high-contrast, highly detailed scenes created by a very wide depth of focus.

Despite the wide area of focus, many of his works feature a focal point featured in the center. In the image above, he plays with contrast, space and perspective to bring the viewer's eyes towards the center of the image. There is a consistent balance of bright positive light and the negative until the image gets to the center, where there is a very large difference in space in the huge black void and the four white statues. 

OUTCOME: 

The most challenging thing about trying to replicate/imitate his technique is to be able to fit two pictures of two different perspectives into one image. I was able to shift and warp the pictures around in order to get them to fit in a believable manner, but it is absolutely astonishing to me that Uelsmann was able to do so with only an enlarger. I assume that he might have had the perspective of the shot in his head, or he might have taken pictures of objects and scenes at multiple angles.