For my project I will be focusing on the union between dreams and reality. My own interest in the subject and photographers/artists have inspired me to go with this theme, one of the people who inspired me was Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist known for his theory about dreams and reality in association with the unconscious and conscious mind, unlike Sigmund Freud’s theory, Jung sees dreams as meaningful messages from the unconscious that could help people navigate both their inner world and reality. I was specifically inspired by his process called individuation which is the journey of uniting the conscious and unconscious mind to become the best version of oneself.

I was also very much inspired by Trevor Henderson, a surrealist digital artist who is well known for creating cryptid-like creatures in a vintage-style filter. His creatures and uncanny style really impacted and strengthened my ideas, I plan to also create my own creatures while including a vintage or ‘found footage’ style to try and include the nightmare side of dreams and reality.

In order to respond to this idea, I will create photoshoots that interpret the union of dreams and reality or the conscious and unconscious mind, I interpret this by using editing techniques such as blurring or creating a ‘found footage’ style to the photographs in order to resemble the transformation or fusing of the two worlds, this will act as the connection point. I will also focus on the aesthetic and technique of liminality as well as ‘found footage’, I believe these will help create uncanny worlds that combine elements of dreams and reality within my images.

For my photobook I want to take my viewers on a journey through images that represent the union of dreams and reality, Another reason I chose to focus on this subject is because of my interest in dreams and how our actual lives fuse with them to create bizarre stories and scenery that may represent certain events or emotions or just some random thoughts. Therefore I plan for the photobook to be random and not in a narrative structure as I believe this will give the affect of spontaneity and randomness that dreams have. I do want some of the images to link as if they are part of the same dream, I will do this by places images with similar characteristics or subjects next to each other on a page or two.

I have also decided to interpret elements of Pictorialism and the Baroque style, I want to include the soft hard focus (Mainly Pictorialism) and ethereality of both themes within my images in order to represent the delicate and enjoyable side of dreams, however I also want to use drama that the Baroque style uses, for example it’s intense colours, scenery and posing, I will do this in order to represent the conflict that people may experience in dreams or nightmares.