World Dream Bank topic: ALTERED PHOTOS and PHOTOCOLLAGE

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Altered Photos and Collage

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Dreams illustrated by photos, altered photos and collage. I was surprised how short this is. Drawings, paintings, sculpture, even pure digital art from scratch--lots of those. But photos of real things or people, altered or not... no. Weird! Photoshop was built to tweak photos, after all. But 98% of the images in the World Dream Bank aren't even photo-based (unless you count photos of sculptures); even fewer look like photos.

It's true that dreams are hard to shoot. I mean, when you wake, the photos you took are lost. Usually.

Staging a dream with friends and photographing them, or assembling dream images from magazine clippings... it's not easy. Photos are so specific, so here... so emphatically not your dream!

Even the Surrealists, despite their reputation, mostly made collages and paintings that merely suggest a dreamlike state, especially the incoherent sleep stage researchers call hypnogogia. But they rarely portrayed real, specific dreams.

I regret that most of the photos altered or collaged here lack credits, though I've managed to trace and credit a few. I apologize if anyone's image or photographic work appears here without permission. Please remember these images illustrate dreams, so they aren't intended to portray you, even if they resemble you...

I find it surprising that I prefer the most altered, least photographic images. How about you?

RELATED TOPICS: dreams of photography - Other media: paintings - watercolor - crayon - pencil and charcoal - ink - felt pen and colored inks - pure digital art - sculpture - compound art and assemblages - posters and picture-poems - comics - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

What this site is - Add your dreams! - How to read blurbs - Ratings - Copyright - Downloading - The World Dream Bank has 4000 dreams plus 1000 pages on dreamwork, shamanism, surrealism, fantasy, worldbuilding, creativity and genius. Site © Chris Wayan 2001-2022.

	ARCTIC CHANGELING: by Wayan; 1981/6/30, a dream on roots. I'm a shy woman in a truckstop town who learns why I don't fit in. But will I, among my real kin?...
	AT THE BISEXUAL BALL: by Wayan; 1997/6/21, a dreamtale. How I found out what I really wanted at the bisexual ball. Really, I'm not disappointed... CAUTION: OH COME ON, READ THE TITLE
	THE B SIDE OF THE PENIS: by Wayan; 1996/8/26, a sex dream about reprogramming. I erase my sexual tape, and start over. Am I male, female, gay, straight? Uh-oh! What SPECIES? CAUTION: MESSY SEXUAL BOOBOOS
	BACKACHE DIALOGUES: by Wayan; 1993/12/10, four bizarre diagnostic dreamlets. I asked my dreams why my back hurt. They told me: pregnancy, marsupial pouches, snapping turtles...
	BAKE HER PHOTO: by Wayan; 1993/10/24, a short, psychic dream. I dream I've carried a photo with me 17 years, but now... I BAKE it. The next day, I meet...
	THE BEST CONVERSATIONALISTS: by Wayan; 1984/8/5, a geeky dream. I'm at an all-geek banquet! We're all shy; we just can't do smalltalk. Then the hostess explains why she chose us...
	BIOFRACTAL: by Deirdre Barrett, c.2016; an ecological dreamlet I was in a jungle, seeing birth, growth and death--the entire web of life at once...
	CENTAUR BEACH: by Wayan; 1990. Two images from a set of recurring dreams. Me and my sisters at the beach. Strangers rarely think we're related, and you can see why...
	CHEAPSHIP!: by Wayan; 1996/8/6, a nightmare on trained stinginess. Why did I sign on as a crewman on the Cheapship, a freighter that's falling apart? And yes, I do mean that literally...
	CHIDI AND PONY-MISTRESS: by Wayan, 2019/9/25, a mysterious dream Ethics professor Chidi from The Good Place, painted purple, tells me he's in love with the Mistress of the Herd, a mix of Circe, Dr. Moreau & My Little Pony, who radiates spells of love & beauty... CAUTION: WEIRD IMAGERY, CRYPTIC, NUDE PONIES
	CUPOLA: by Wayan; 1994/7/28, a dream of an alternate life. I live in a cupola atop a Victorian house in the Haight-Ashbury, but that's not the City out my windows...
	CURSING ISABELLA: by Wayan; 1992/8/19, a thoughtful dream of sorcery. How I cursed Isabella the sofa sorceress, cursed her with a blueberry. And why that stinks... CAUTION: UNDER THE MAGIC, IDEAS
	DRAGON BANNERS: by Wayan; 1987/3/19, a dream on the value of inner emptiness. A dragon's daughter seeking her inheritance defies a sneaky dragon-realtor out to own the world...
	DREAM OF THE DANCE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 2006/10/16, a dream-painting After our trip to Turkey, I dreamed I was dancing in a heavy black robe like those the Turkish women wore...
	A DREAMKU PRIMER: by Roswila; 2007; how-to guide to dream haiku Distilling a dream to one key image can clarify it. But don't be ruled totally by traditional haiku form...
	THE ELEVEN CENT ORACLE: by Wayan; 1998/11/12, a dream on accumulating... change. I'm a migratory girl who's lost my tribe. I find eleven coins, cross the world, and pay the Oracle...
	FAIRY WIFE: by Wayan; 1985/1/17, an epic dream of love and choice. A fairy woman and a mortal man? Can't work! They're flighty, we're crude. Doomed, right? Well, some people are so sure of it they decide to help things along a bit. Or a lot...
	FAMILIAR WOOD: by Wayan; 1994/11/10, a dream of the borderzone. Downtown San Francisco hides a magic wood full of crested talking tigers. And I must enter it to live a while...
	FANFOX: by Wayan; 2001, self-portrait as a fox woman. This foxgirl had my own uneasy mixture of exhibitionism and wariness. Baring sex, but not my face... CAUTION: NUDITY
	FLIGHT, MARGARET, MOUSE, DOG: by Paul Nash, dreamed 1895-9 + Feb. 1913; art by Dave McKean As a child, landscape artist Paul Nash dreamed of flying over the countryside of southern England. But he was threatened by the legendary Black Dog...
	FLUID DREAM CONNECTIONS: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 2003/11/8 and 2007/3/14; linked dreams of pods A pod of whales in the sky and a circle of children dressed like seed-pods both beg me to interpret them...
	FLY OVER THE RIVER CANYON: by Linda Magallón; 1984/9/18, a joyful flying dream A man leads me to a cliff looking down on a canyon. Men dive into the river below, but often hit the canyon walls. The two of us soar upwards though, across the canyon...
	FLYING UNICORNS' GIFTS: by Lily Michaud; 2007/9/5, an advice-dream inside a flying dream Flying unicorns hang out with me and my friends, sending us dreams full of useful advice--and more concrete gifts...
	FOUR-LEGGED MONK: by Centaurquad; June 1983; a sexy transformation dream My boyfriend's a student in an exotic monastery. But under his robe, he's gotten a bit exotic himself... CAUTION: SEXUAL DREAM
	FURRY TRINITY: by Wayan; 2021/3/1, a dream painting three facets of... me? Or of dreaming? Three furry people show off their collected art & pets. But then they dissolve into their art & pets! The room itself dissolves into a river-raft. A unicorn girl in a gauze ritual robe studies a map... CAUTION: MILD FURRY NUDITY
	FUTILITY: by Wayan; 1973/11/23, a time-machine dream. I'm Liza Doolittle on Mars. With Mr. Wells's Time Machine. Lost, in fact. Can I get home? Should I?
	GALILEO FALLS: by Wayan; 1979/11/7, a mysterious dream . I was a closet unicorn. SO closet, I didn't even know what a unicorn was, till I went to college and met Lindsay, who was half and could pass...
	GHOST GATOR: by Wayan; 1984/10/9, a lip-reading dream. A child from another universe materializes--part way. Too bad we called in that expert from Stanford...
	GIRL WITH A PROBLEM: by Wayan; 1997/4/12, a surreal dream. I date a girl with a mysterious syndrome, but soon I become a monkeyfaced con-man. And SHE becomes...
	HALF-ELF: by Wayan; 1996/2/14, a predictive dream fable. A biracial girl doubts her own heritage; a human friend has to confirm the obvious. So what am I blind to?
	A HOBBIT IN L.A.: by Wayan; 1990/1/8, a dream on wishes. I'm a hobbit woman in Los Angeles, hiding a magic weapon from Sauron. No, not THAT weapon. The wishing-bucket...
	A HOT SKATER: by Wayan; 1997/5/8, a suggestive dream. A skater so hot, she tears her clothes off and starts melting the ice! I'm shy with her: thin ice, you know... CAUTION: NUDITY
	HUMMINGBIRD: by Larry Vigon; 2004/4/4; a predictive dream A hummingbird was trapped inside my home. So beautiful. I set it free. The next Saturday, I found this hummingbird on the patio...
	THE ICE CREAM KISS: by Wayan; 1993/11/27, an uncomfortable dream. I'm Joe Leaphorn, in (of all places for a Navaho detective) a coven in San Francisco watching a creamy...
	THE ILL-FORMED TALE: by Wayan; 160K, 1981/4/7, a wild dream anti-epic. To reach the Peak of Happiness on the Isle of Dreams, I must pass four Perils--but they're all backwards... CAUTION: RELIGIOUS NUTS, KNIVES, NUDE ALIENS, BACKWARD PLOT...
	IN THE VAULT: by Wayan; 1983/4/6, a dream of treasure. I was a sheltered girl till I entered my family's secret ancestral vault. I didn't expect to meet...
	THE ISLAND FURIES: by Wayan; summer 1975, a dream of self-control. When warring Greek isles kill a peacemaker, her three best friends start a vendetta! But she wanted peace... CAUTION: HATE NURSED TOO LONG
	LAKOTA TRAINSCAPES: by Wayan; 2018/10/30, art seen in an anti-lucid dream In a general store on a High Plains rez, I find two surreal collaged postcards. If only this were a dream they'd qualify for the World Dream Bank, but sadly, it isn't. Right? CAUTION: STUPID, STUPID CONSCIOUS!
	LESBOY: by Wayan; 1996/5/20, a dream on one's identity and place. My Aunt Squid advises me to join a lesbian artists' co-op. But I'm a man! Not for long, though... CAUTION: NUDE SUNBATHING, GENDER BEWILDERMENT
	MAELEN AND ME: by Wayan; 1972/5/1, a transmigrational dream. I'm a psychic circus animal who's just managed to teleport my humanoid girlfriend. It's for our act, but... CAUTION: PETTING
	THE MATING GAME: by Wayan; 1992/3/18, a dream of spillover. A TV crew invades the house, setting up for a special. I didn't expect to see a president on the work crew...
	MUSTARD VAMPIRE : by Wayan; 1984/3/1, a warning dream. I love a cute vampire. She's willing to go on a diet. Even so, do I have enough blood to spare?
	MY EXPERIENCE OF LUCID DREAMING: by Maria Isabel Pita; August 2013, dreambased photomontage Superimposed photos and movie stills show my typical lucid dreaming--I look at my hands, realize I'm dreaming, dance for joy, meet a guide, fly to strange places--best of all, Egypt...
	NEED AN ADVENTURE? by Catshall, 2022/5/18-25, collage-poem on recurrent dreams For a week the same dream-figures and settings have been recurring: shapeshifters and sea monsters. What are they hiding? Or guarding...
	NON OMNIS MORIAR: by Carole Lindberg; Dec. 2012, a comic apocalyptic dream The world was ending. Volcanoes, floods. Refugees trudged by in the mud, carrying their belongings on their backs. I think I better get dressed to go. But I can't find anything appropriate to wear...
	NORASINGH: by Wayan; 1987/1/15, a Tantric Frankenstein dream. I fall in love with my sculpture of a mythical Southeast Asian creature. Then a mad yogi breaks in... CAUTION: SEX, TANTRA, AND GENERAL WEIRDNESS
	ONCE A HERO: by Wayan; 1998/10/22-25, 17 images, a raw dream-series. Sexy dreams of Chinese archeology, authorized by the fairies, make me face that my family abused me...
	OPEN YOUR CAGE: by Wayan; 2000/1/10; penciled collage of dream characters The cover of a collection of 11.5 dream-tales in glorious detailed Web-unfriendly black and white....
	THE PIRATE TWINS: by Wayan; 1996/7/25, a dreamtale on intrigue. I love the Twins. They love intrigue. So when a hired crocodile sabotages our Egyptian treasure-hunt... CAUTION: BAD GIRLS
	THE PLANTER OF SEEDS: by Victoria Goro-Rapoport, 2011, print based on recurring dreams I often dream I'm lost in a strange city, wandering the unfamiliar streets in search of something unknown, and possibly unknowable...
	PUFF TIDE: by Wayan; 1993/5/1, a nightmare on indulging rage and tears. I'm swept off sea-rocks, as my scaly guardian watches calmly--letting me drown in the tears I shed... CAUTION: DROWNING
	RAVENNA: by Wayan; 1994/12/25, a predictive Jungian dream on art & body-image. In a church-tent, I find glowing pictures of mine I've never seen awake. One's half-done; I work on it. I wake, and read how Jung, in a Ravenna church, saw luminous images he later learned burned centuries ago! CAUTION: NUDE STAINED GLASS
	THE SAN DIEGO CENTAURS: by Wayan; 1985/1/9, a slice-of-life dream. In San Diego, I fly around disrupting the UFO games in the junkyard, till I reconnect with a centaur friend
	SATANIC LION'S WARNING: by Eldon B.; 2007/1/19, a nightmare with poltergeist activity I fled a demon into a shadowy construction zone where an even worse telepathic lion-devil lured me in with soothing flattery. I woke shaking--and then things in my room began to move... CAUTION: DEMONS, POLTERGEIST PHENOMENA
	SHY NO MORE: by Wayan; 2008/8/13. A dream poem, Dreamverse #3 I play the lovers in a teen romance: shy abused boy, insecure girl. But I get tired of the script, and... CAUTION: LANGUAGE
	SOCK PUPPETS OF THE GODS: by Dee and Wayan; 1994/4/14. Parallel shamanic dreams! I dream I'm suicidal; but I'm saved when I'm shown the flow of human development--the same pattern, from souls to civilizations! Eddies and knots recur, but the challenges slowly get more spiritual. NEXT DAY: I learn what my shaman-friend Dee just dreamed. And now I'm unsure whose dream this is... CAUTION: IDEAS
	THE SOLE FISHER OF THE EIGHTH NODE: by Wayan; 1986/9/25, a prescriptive dream. The pier jutting into the sea of dreams has an 8th chakra at the end, where a lonely woman fishes for, um, sole...
	SUBMERGED IN THE WAVE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1988/8/3, a comic nightmare I'm holding a pornographic novel, trying to keep it dry, as huge waves flood the room. The book and I are both going to get drenched...
	SUN SINKS BENEATH THE EARTH--REMAINS OF MEN AND WOMEN: by Jenny Badger Sultan; 1997, a collage on a dream-idea A phrase from a dream, "the remains of men and women," led to this image of a black sun in the underworld amid strata of time and the psyche...
	THUMBSUCKER!: by a patient of William Hammond, c.1868, an epic comic taste dream I paint my thumb with bitter aloes to break my habit of sucking it at night. I dream of wormwood, ox gall, mineral salts. I consult Dr. Save Me and even the Pope, but...
	TIGER TALL: by Wayan; 1992/7/3, a marathon dream. I'm a tiger from Planet Cat, visiting Earth to run in San Francisco's "Bay to Breakers" race. I knew racial tensions were high, but why is William S. Burroughs out to kill me? Oh. Because...
	TWENTY-SIX LETTERS, or, A Complete Summary of Poesy; by Cory & Wayan, early Aug. 1992; a haiku slam You get 26 dice with letters on every face. Roll them all. Your haiku must use every letter. Go!
	TWISTED!: by Wayan; 2003/6/23, 18 images; a nondream experiment I twirled pinups into surreal not-quite-abstracts, to see just how twisted sex could get... CAUTION: NAKED PRETZELS
	THE VIDEOGRAPHER'S APPRENTICE: by Wayan; 1994/7/29, a predictive/warning dream. Blondie Wiggle builds a Video Igloo. But I'm allergic--TV kills me! A BAD omen for our video project... CAUTION: TV KILLS (BUT YOU KNEW THAT)
	WALRUSHMORE: by Wayan; 1982/1/8; a dream pun with political bite In my sister's house I saw a magazine cover showing that famous national monument in the Black Hills: Mt Walrushmore...
	WASTE: by Wayan; 1990/5/7, a desert singles poem, 11 images. A road trip through New Mexico mutates into a tour of my relationship disasters...
	"WHAT SHARKS?": by Wayan; 1990/4/22, a dream of multiple viewpoints. A cowgirl is driving us in circles round the dusty parking lot, fleeing the air-sharks... or is she?
	THE WHITE WAVE: by Jenny Badger Sultan, 1988/8/3, a comic nightmare I'm holding a pornographic novel, trying to keep it dry, as huge waves flood the room. The book and I are both going to get drenched...
	WHO ATE MY LETTUCE?: by Wayan; 1983/1/13, a short dreamfable. An invisible monster is eating my lettuce patch. It casts a huge blurry shadow, leaves footprints, but...
	WHO SHATTERS?: by Wayan; 1995/6/18, a cryptic culinary dream. Dry noodles shatter when bent. Wait, not noodles--they have auras! Feel like me--parts of me? Oh! These aren't noodles or strands of my being. I'm not this brittle. They're relatives!
	A WRITER'S MUSE: by Wayan, 1996/12/7, a dreamfable on creativity. A writer's found in his office mating with an ash-covered creature! But could she be his muse? CAUTION: NUDITY OR NOT? SEX OR NOT? NO ONE QUITE KNOWS...
	ZEBRA RUN AND FLOW: by Alan Underwood, 2012/6/12, a scenic dreamlet Zebra emerge from the lake. They glide as if swimming, and the air has an odd shimmer; did they bring the depths along? They seem to be having great fun ducking branches and vaulting brambles. Such agility and grace!