Surreal images & Optical illusions...

While researching surrealism in both art and photography form, I came across the images below and found them intruiging. It then helped me to further my research into optical illusions and the thought that things may not always be as they seem...

                                    

At a glance, the picture above seems to be a gun placed with the barrel out of the window. However when looking closer, a completely different image is visible, that of an old man looking through a telescope at the stars :) Two very different themes, violence and astrology, are conveyed in this one picture, an aspect that caught my attention

Again, this picture shows two different images combined. Firstly, the shell of a broken egg can be seen, with the yellow yolk centre of the picture and the white of the egg having spread out below. However, it could also be seen as the sun rising over a shining river, also made apparent by the man dragging his boat from it in the bottom left corner

This surreal image is my favourite due to the themes of romance and beauty that it conveys. Firstly, a shell can be seen partly buried in the sand of the beach, next to the water edge, providing a peaceful and beautiful picture. By looking at this picture for a second time, the shape of two lovers passionately embracing in the sand is made clear as a sail boat gently passes by on the ocean