Moroccan photographer and filmmaker Achraf Baznani carries on the traditions of surrealism with his wild, imaginative, and wholly impractical imagery. Among his inventive scenarios, small human figures -often the artist himself- appear trapped within glass jars or the size of a camera lens; in other works, Baznani more or less dissects his body, as, in one, he cleanly removes his brain from his cranium, or in another, twists off his hand, much as if it were a light bulb. Imparted throughout such works are strong senses of humor and wonder, and as such, Baznani’s art offers a Surrealistic take on life experience in the digital age.
A self-taught artist, Baznani has no formal photography education. He lives and works in Morocco.
Artist about his artworks:
Conceptual photography is, first and foremost, about the concept of the photo. A conceptual photographer is trying to bring some message about to the viewer, be it a political advert or a social commentary or an emotional outcry. There is some level of abstraction, thus, in my works: the image is not an explicit example of the concept, but a general expression of the idea.
Conceptual photography makes healthy use of graphical symbols to represent ideas, movements, moods, anything and everything that the photographer might want to include in the message of their photograph.
For my works, there are a variety of ways a concept falls into place, most often it starts with a spark of inspiration and grows from there, whether it is a person, design, story that needs to be told, regardless, it all starts with a single point. From there it becomes simple problem solving. I don’t spend very much time looking at what other people are doing. I like to stay aware and connected to what others are doing by following sites such as Flickr.. but beyond that, I spend the rest of my time meeting people, creating, and actually just living life. I think the best way to being inspired is not just to try to emulate others, but to find what inspires you in life and attempting to capture and share it.
I use Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom 4. I use Lightroom to correct and change the colorimetry pictures. Then I go on to the most important Photoshop retouching. To learn how to master these tools, I spent hours in front of my computer to study the tutorials available on the Internet.