Original

No one really knows who the first person was to start the whole surreal photography genre. (Well, I don't know at least) The one thing I do know is that Brooke Shaden wasn't the first person to do it. This isn't a blog bashing her. I love her soul, her work, her words of encouragement, and so so much more. This is a blog about how, while I'm flattered and I'm sure others are as well when their work is compared to Brooke's or even thought as Brooke's, it's not Brooke's work - it's mine.

I get a lot that I'm copying Brooke, or Shelby, or whoever else does similar type portraits. Let me stop you there and tell you-NO. I've been doing photomanipulation since I was 13. Granted they weren't as advanced as my pieces now, but I was still doing it before these people became popular and before I knew who they were. No, I'm not the first person to do these types of works. Actually I was inspired by other people's works I saw as a kid. Mainly paintings and from films, but I still did my own work aside from that. I have a Myspace that has an old album from when I was a kid just full of composite works I did.

People being ignorant towards me because they don't know me is pretty annoying and if anything makes me laugh because it truly shows how a person doesn't know me at all. I had a blog a while back that told everyone how I got into photography and even the surreal part of it. I'll paraphrase it for you... I was 13, had no models but myself, had photoshop 7, and a webcam/point and shoot. These were my tools. I was too shy to use models and lacked resources and knowledge to have my images hung anywhere or even advance. It took me a long time to obtain the knowledge I have. I taught myself. So much trial and error happened... and in the end all of my hard work is being taken away from me by people that don't know what they're talking about. I have countless hours of watching videos, speed-art, learning in photoshop myself, learning different techniques myself and from others, etc.

Simply put, know someone before you speak. Someone that is popular now isn't always the first person to do something, they're generally just the first person to make it known. I'm not angry that people compare me. I'm really flattered and it makes me joyous even, but everything isn't just what you see. Take a little time to do some real research before you point fingers.