Sci-fi surge: How the cosmos is inspiring creatives
In the first in a new series on photographic trends, Stocksy’s Tara Campbell explores how image-makers are responding to our current fascination with sci-fi and space
Visual trends often come in the form of colour palettes or aesthetics shaped by the latest technologies. But every now and then, a movement comes along that speaks to us on a deeper level, affecting art and media on a massive scale. Right now, it seems that movement is science-fiction.
Our interest in the cosmos is nothing new. We’ve been gazing up at the stars and wondering at our place in the mysterious vastness of the universe for eons. But the past few years has seen a wave of sci-fi narratives in popular culture – from Neil Degrasse Tyson’s remix of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos to the Blade Runner and Star Wars sequels, epic Marvel blockbusters and Netflix’s cult hit, Stranger Things. Sci-fi and fantasy has become the most popular genre on Netflix and sales of books in this genre have doubled since 2010.
Our obsession with sci-fi could simply be an example of the cyclical nature of trends. But there’s another theory that it could be a collective reaction to an overload of information in the digital age.
Sci-fi has always acted as a form of social commentary, using hyperbole and fantastical narratives to reflect existential anxieties. But it seems the always-on nature of technology and easy access to an endless stream of information has left us mentally exhausted, disenchanted with modern life and underwhelmed by the mediocrity of the everyday.
And so, we look to the cosmos, creating and consuming imagery and narratives that engage our exhausted minds and allow us a temporary escape from reality. Through photography, video, art and design, we reimagine and reinterpret the central themes of sci-fi: future homes, interplanetary travel, other life forms and our place within space…
Boldly Go
The theme of space travel is a staple in sci-fi narratives and sci-fi inspired imagery: searching for new frontiers or homes, navigating unknown and potentially hostile territories or looking for a new place to call home. Think lone astronauts traversing desolate landscapes and floating in a vast expanse of matter or rocket ships preparing for take-off. Earth takes on an otherworldly feel in Alexandr Ivanet’s surreal series In Space (shot in remote Siberia), while Colin Anderson’s digitally edited work shows astronauts exploring a Martian landscape.
See more examples here.
Earth 2.0
Sci-fi epics generally take place on new, Earth-like planets, often on the somewhat dystopian premise that pollution, overpopulation or some other cataclysmic event has rendered the planet uninhabitable.
In this potential future, we search for another habitat – one that has many of the familiar aspects of our home, but with unfamiliar colour schemes, foliage, and skylines, bringing a whole new imaginative lens to the craft of “landscape photography”. Image-makers are experimenting not just with cosmic colour filters, but striking photographs of real-life locations with an otherworldly feel, from geothermal springs in New Zealand to pink salt pans and the deep red waters of the Rio Tinto river in Spain.
See more examples here.
Up in the Sky
Real photographs of distant planets and constellations have inspired creative minds as much as fictional dystopias and VFX-heavy blockbusters. But capturing stars on camera is not a pursuit for the impatient or the occasional dabbler: it requires real commitment and some serious kit.
Astrophotographer Sara Wager creates incredible composite images of Nebulas and galaxies by piecing together hours of footage captured with a complex telescopic contraption. Editing is also a time-consuming process: “Processing one image can take upwards of ten hours, and will regularly take me many days. Once it has sat in my PC for three days without any tweaks, then I know I am happy to publish it,” she explains.
See more examples here.
First contact
Are we alone? Are there other lifeforms out there in the universe? From saucer-shaped U.F.O.s with little green men to the frightening beings depicted in Ridley Scott’s Alien, sci-fi has offered many weird and wonderful interpretations of what other species might look like, but we have a tendency to imagine that life on other planets will look more or less like augmented humans – people-like beings with a touch of the Uncanny Valley.
In photography, a clever use of long exposure, light and shadow can give human or natural forms an alien look, while unsettling images of anonymous figures with concealed faces leave us to wonder what’s beneath.
See more examples here.
We are stardust
Modern science has taught us that, unique as we are, our bodies are made up of the same basic elements as all the chaotic gases and rocks in space. But since we evolved into self-aware, conscious beings, our relationship with the universe has been a source of great introspection and debate. Are we just tiny insignificant specs in an ever-expanding universe? A universe that could be just a single sphere in an unfathomably massive multiverse?
Without concrete answers to life’s biggest questions, we continue to look up to the sky and wonder, “Who am I, and what does is all mean?” – a question that has proved a rich source of inspiration for visual creatives.
See more examples here.
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