Combo Photos - Artist Stephen McMennamy Turns Everyday Objects Into Mind-Bending Surreal Art

Artist and Atlanta-based photographer and art director Stephen McMennamy likes to create amazing surreal and humorous combo photos, by taking two seemingly disparate images and merging them into one.

In October 2012 he was introduced to instagram. from there his interest in photography grew and that interest evolved into an ongoing project he now refers to the results and calls his creations #ComboPhotos.

The remarkable thing that makes his combo photos even more intriguing is, rather than searching Google for images to combine, or using stock photos, McMennamy takes the photos himself which he then juxtaposes.

This way Stephen McMennamy gets full creative control over what he does and takes inspiration from practically everywhere he goes. But it does mean he's constantly on the lookout for what might work as Combo Photos.

How Stephen McMennamy Gets His Photo Ideas

"I'm always looking for props or objects," Stephen McMennamy told CNN. "Sometimes I have things in my mind that I'm looking for, so it's a bit of a scavenger hunt. [But] the key to a lot of it is to keep it simple and fun, people seem to like that." He continues by saying "'At its core the Combo Photo project is simply combining two separate images that complete one another to tell a different story."

For his ideas, style and props Stephes says "'I insist on clean backgrounds to ensure that the merger of the images doesn't get lost so I'm always looking for whatever object I need against a clean background, there's a five story parking garage near my house and I often go up there to get my blue sky backgrounds, the whole thing is one big scavenger hunt. Sometimes I labor over an idea, spending weeks planning, practicing or experimenting and other times it happens in an instant."

The resultant images can be both striking and somewhat disconcerting. You can take a look at some of Stephen McMennamy's results below, and make sure you head to his Instagram page and website for many more.