We Built Our Own World

inception_poster_imax1-535 copy Inception. I am in danger of becoming stuck inside this movie. I have watched it three times and it is brilliant. They seemingly stuck a camera inside my own dreams, indeed that is how it feels like watching it. Inception toys with dreams merging with reality and does it extremely well in a very entertaining way. It also provided an idea and an insight into my landscape work.

Dream within a Dream

I continually look for landscapes bathed in otherworldly light where I can compose and capture a timeless composition that sits somewhere between dream and reality. Hyper reality. It is Earth but not quite as we know it. I am not interested in reality I am interested in creating grand dreamscapes allowing the viewer to Escape in Landscapes. My landscapes are not documentation, when I get it right they are moments of dreams.

Abstract simplistic locations like a desert at dusk lends itself well to dreams of surrealism; here I present Death Valley in the USA and the desert of Namibia. Both images shot with ND and GND filters using long exposures at the very tail end of the dusk light and picking up that lovely otherworldly glow:

Badwater Bliss -  blog
Magic of the desert -blog
Cities can certainly become hyper real in the right light. This is the best image I will ever capture of Copenhagen, a large thunderstorm two years ago prepares to level the city at sunset and creates a never to be repeated light.

Summer Storm - blog

Waiting for a train

What is your favourite ‘dream’ image? An otherworldly image that feels like you are dreaming it. Can be your own image or someone else, feel free to post a link in the comments.  Hurry though, the music may start playing soon.

27 Comments on “We Built Our Own World”

  1. i've still not managed to make it to see the movie- but it is high up on my list! DiCaprio is one of my favorite actors going round, luved all of his work- after around The Beach I think came out. before that I couldn't stand him. amazing turn around I think haha.

    I really really like that "Magic of Dreams" image.
    those cracks are wicked! the dunes have something amazing about them, still not sure what it is that my eyes were drawn to- but whatever it is was working haha.

    1. DiCaprio is great, especially playing tormented roles. I particularly like him in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Basketball Diaries, Romeo+Juliet, Blood Diamond and Inception. I have yet to see Shutter Island. The Beach is one of the worst movies ever made though!

      Glad you like the dune image mate. Those cracks and patterns are incredible, none of us were quite sure what it was not even my Namibian friends.

  2. haha, yes it was. probably deserved an AFTER in that comment lol.
    I wasn't a fan of the grape or romeo. basketball dairies I actually watched cos it's basketball- i didn't mind it so much, but probably mainly for that reason haha. i'm a basketball nut, i mean legend! 😛

    blood diamond is awesome, just love it. but you missed a couple of others, The Departed is fantastic, and then Body of Lies is tops as well.
    once again those gritty type roles where he has done fantastic.
    i've not seen shutter island yet either, heard many mixed responses to it and then ended up forgetting about it haha. I tend to do that until it comes on Foxtel anyway. gona miss that when I'm in the Pilbara…. or actually, probably not haha

    1. Yes I forgot how good he is in the Departed because the movie itself is a little disappointing. Body of Lies, don't remember much of it except I was mighty disappointed. Ridley Scott lost it years ago. Blood Diamond is amazing.

      1. yeah he sure is good in the Departed, the movie as a whole I didn't mind though. body of lies did go on for too long for me, with quite a few slower moments where I remember I did loose interest. i don't think i've actually watched it the whole way through at one time haha. so i guess it's not up there with the rest of them.

  3. All great shots Bomont!

    Can't say I have a favorite surreal image apart from maybe the Nazgul one I did I reckon!

  4. That shot of Copenhagen is out of this world. The forces of Mordor coming to conquer!

    Copenhagen is such a beautiful city. I hope I get my ass over to Europe one day, but the way it's going, i may never see any of it in this life.

    Jean Gaumy-like images inhabit my dreams these days, whether they be the waking or sleeping kind. An example: http://img21.mtime.cn/mg/2010/06/22/185815.128363

    (except I don't dream in black and white)

    1. Thanks Charlene, yes even I look at that Copenhagen shot and seriously wonder if I dreamt that one up. It is one in a million, one in a billion, one in a guruplex.

      Copenhagen is indeed one extremely beautiful and charming city. In Summer especially, do not go near it in Winter!

      Awesome link, thanks. Looks very much like a dream although mine are in technicolour as well. My dreams are all constructed as well, like Inception.

  5. Still love your Capenhagen shot mate!
    one of mine of late would be my shot of Hamlin Lake called 'Whisper'
    The fog changed that lake in a way I had never seen before!

  6. I liked Inception except I believe you have to be a 'right-brained' kind of person to sync with it. There was not sufficient narrative of the mental
    'jumps' going on- so I was feeling lots of confusion alongside of being enthralled while I viewed the film. In any event, I left the theatre feeling very charged and excited…found the whole thing stimulating. Pretty daring of Nolan to put you into shared dream-states, with no
    explanations – I'll hand that to him. I will want to see it again in a few months. Shutter Island is worth a viewing, btw, as well as the Departed. They aren't the best Scorsese – & neither is 'Gangs of New York' but I thought di Caprio at his BEST in that too-bloody film.

    Speaking of dreams – I heard some of the best dreamy music in an
    Arnold Schoenberg Piece for Orchestra (1923). I could send you an MP3 copy via internet. Send me yr e-mail address to [email protected] & I will send that along.

    Toodles, Frank

    1. Hi Frank. I tend to use both sides of my brain equally and the two sides often end up in a huge argument. I am also ambidextrous. In the case of Inception I do not need explanations, this is dream stuff for the right side. Will send you an email, thanks!

  7. Cracking images Flemming – I'd choose which I' like best but it's almost too hard, though I am leaning towards the top one with the salt !

    It is an interesting concept in the movie and not too difficult to get your head around either which helps make it more entertaining viewing IMO. Going to to the movie SALT tonight…. nothing to do with salt pans or a MF exhibition – lol

    cheers,

    1. Hi Tony and thanks mate, yes all three images are crackers 🙂 Let us know if SALT the movie is any good, no offense to MF but Jolie is slightly better looking but I bet the MF salt version has better photography.

      1. hey mate – the movie was pretty good, plenty of action and shooting with a bit of thinking thrown in… sort of only half finished though ! (potential sequel like most movies these days). Worth seeing.

        t 🙂

  8. The Copenhagen photo is truly beautiful, a stunning view of the city, amazing cloudscape, and the reflection in the water. (I've seen some other great reflection photos here). Is it extreme patience or luck which allowed the capture of such a lovely light? I'm an amateur myself, but photos like this inspire me to keep practising, thank you.

    1. Thank you very much, glad you like it and thanks for commenting. The capture of the amazing light in that Copenhagen image was both luck and patience. I saw the storm coming, I knew it would be special so I looked in which direction and picked my spot in the city. I then waited and was rewarded after an hour with this light. It is luck too but you have to put yourself in a position to get lucky.

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