Nightmare #1
The first time I remember having a vivid hallucination I was taking temazepam, although I cannot remember what for I do clearly remember looking at my hands and...
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The first time I remember having a vivid hallucination I was taking temazepam, although I cannot remember what for I do clearly remember looking at my hands and being convinced that I had eight fingers on each. Ever since, multiple digits have been a staple of my strangest dreams.
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Jul, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This image was taken just behind my home in Liverpool England, I have a somewhat unpleasant autoimmune disease which often renders me unable to leave the immediate vicinity of my house, so I'm forced to think of interesting ways to use what's close by.Time
I took the initial images that make up this picture in the early afternoon, I don't recall the exact time.Lighting
Whenever you are taking multiple shots that you intend to blend together later, it's important that the light isn't going to fluctuate too much. A lot of my work can contain up to and over fifty individual shots, so with this one that only has around three or four it wasn't as pivotal.Equipment
I shot this on a Canon eos 1100d with a Tokina 11-16mm, I wanted to really exaggerate the perspective so the Tokinas super wide field of view was ideal.Inspiration
As I say in the description I made this for an ongoing project entitled Dreams/Nightmares and Hallucinations. where I am trying to encapsulate visions that have either haunted or fascinated me since childhood, I intend to extend this to include dreams that other people describe to me as well. In this particular image I'm trying to recreate the first vivid hallucination I recall ever experiencing. I was taking Temazepam, although I cannot remember what for I do clearly remember looking at my hands and being convinced that I had eight fingers on each. Ever since, multiple digits have been a staple of my strangest dreams.Editing
Once I had the shots I wanted I imported them into a stack in photoshop, then using layer masks to bring out the bits I wanted to keep from each file I then played around with the clone & healing tools until I had the desired confusing effect.In my camera bag
My main camera bag is a Lowepro SlingShot 102 AW. I'm now mostly shooting with a Canon 5D classic, an excellent and cheap way to move over to full frame for anyone wanting to upgrade their camera body on a budget, as its a fantastic camera that you can pick up second hand for the same sort of cost as a new entry level dslr. Depending on my intention I will pack different lenses but my constant companion is a Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8, I've found it to be a great multi purpose shooter. Then a cheap yongnuo flash, some spare battery's, some filters and a lens cloth.Feedback
Any editing technique can be learned really easily now with the likes of youtube tutorials, even open source editing software like gimp can open so many creative doors, the really hard part is imagination. I always like to jot down any ideas I think of for an image as soon as it comes to me, the crazier the better, then I'll forget all about it until I'm stuck for something to do. You never want to directly copy someone else's idea but sites like Viewbug are fantastic for inspiration, so often I'll see something that makes me wonder why I even bother to pick up a camera, but then I think no, how can I tell my own story that this person couldn't, then I fail but I try again. Most importantly keep shooting!
