Surrealist Photography

I remember an interview in which HCB proudly accepted that he was a Surrealist. Of course he knew a number of the movement’s members, but he didn’t explain how the ideology manifested itself in his photographs. Given that he was not particularly experimental, I’ve always supposed it was in the strange, unexplained circumstances that can be created by freezing a moment in time and avoiding any kind of caption. But I may well have that wrong. Any other ideas? Can we find any agreement on what surrealist photography is?
 
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Jonathan R said:
I remember an interview in which HCB proudly acknowledged that he was a Surrealist, although he didn’t explain how that manifested itself in his photographs. I’ve always thought it was in the odd, unexplained circumstances that are created by freezing a moment in time and avoiding any kind of caption.
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"Surrealist photography" is a contradiction in terms, but sometimes reality is stranger than a surrealist fabrication.
 
Thank you for your kind comments,
About the concept of Surrealist Photography, just my opinion
Photography, by its very nature, has a strong connection to reality. This connection allows for immense Creativity but not so much in the area of Imagination – in the sense of Fantasy, Delirium, Dream...
The link between Photography and Reality can be overcome, to a certain extent, in two ways:

Photography: Collage, double exposure, manipulation in the darkroom, etc. Man Ray and Dora Maar were two good examples

Reality: Encountering real scenes in which the unlikely combination of elements causes surprise, perplexity, astonishment (as in the above post # 601 by dab). Or modifying the subject, creating constructed “realities” or deliberately planned scenarios. Philippe Halsman is a good example: see his Dali Atomicus The Story behind Philippe Halsman's Surreal Photograph “Dalí Atomicus” | Artsy

It is this last path that interests me, and in which I am trying to do something, with some imagination, lights, an old Mamiya C330 and Portra 160.
Another example from the “Red Nails” series done in the same session

Flowers.JPG
 
Joao said:
Encountering real scenes in which the unlikely combination of elements causes surprise, perplexity, astonishment
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It’s this category that fascinates me. Because viewers are denied a full explanation of the photo, they are obliged to complete what is missing, either consciously or subconsciously, and it can be puzzling, unsettling, amusing, or disturbing, as you say. Richard Kalvar is one example of the genre. Not meaning to diminish what such a photographer achieves, I find it interesting that the creative part is transferred to the viewer.
 
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