Chris Korsak

Portland Branding, headshot, and product photographer

Model posing in a forest

Lucid Dream

August 31, 2021

It is morning, and the forest is peaceful. The birds are singing and hopping from branch to branch as the sun finds its way through the canopy of leaves. With this serene feeling inside, she walks deeper and deeper into the woods. The allure of the winding trail just feels right. After many hours of wandering, it is now late afternoon. There’s a new feeling inside her that’s very faint at first, but it keeps building as the sun slowly descends towards the horizon. A warped drone-like tone begins to build in the distance and eventually starts to shake some of the branches. As the sound begins to build in intensity, she surprises herself by saying aloud, "And now I become the trees.” Now the drone is all around her. Nonetheless, she keeps walking down the trail even more. “I feel them surrounding me,” she says again, this time without surprise or hesitation. “I feel all the people who once stood in the exact place I’m standing now. They were once visitors here, but now they’re the very trees that make up this forest. I want this to happen. I am choosing this.” She slowly dissolves into her surroundings and then wakes up.

Model posing in a forest

Cue Reality

I recently collaborated with a Eugene-based model named Lindsey on a scorching 103 degree summer day at Mt. Tabor Park in Portland. I used the same inspiration/theme as my last creative portrait shoot, which was a dissolving into the environment, lucid dream vibe that I alluded to in the introduction.

Despite having an ambitious shoot theme, we started very simple with lighting and attire, which allowed me to concentrate on building some rapport and getting warmed up. I also think it’s a good idea to come away with some clean commercial photos just to cover all the bases! Here are some of my favorites from the first part of our shoot:

Model posing at a park Model posing at a park Model posing at a park

The above photos are natural light, with a bit of reflector on the first and third photo. The second photo has a low-contrast look that I really like and is probably due to some lens flare. I feel like keeping it simple was a great way for both of us to get into a creative headspace.

What Would Life Be Like Without Dreams?

After the first look, we created a lot of photos that incorporated the forest. I used a prism, some ethereal back-lighting, and shadow patterns from trees to create the mood I was going for. Again, I wanted the look to be dreamy, hazy, and a bit like she was becoming a part of the environment.

Model posing in a forest Model posing in a forest Model posing in a forest Model posing in a forest

As the shoot was approaching the end, I created a couple final looks with the time I had left. The darker images below feel ambiguous to me in terms of what time of day it’s supposed to be. Is it sunlight? Is it moonlight?

Model posing at a park Model posing at a park Model posing in a forest Model posing in a forest

The double exposures (above) were taken with my Holga film camera. I tried to compose the overlapping elements the best I could, but really there is just a lot of trial and error with these types of photos. Additionally, I used some very expired slide film and had the lab cross-process it so it would create trippy color shifts to support the dream-like mood I was going for.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m very happy with the lucid dream vibes of these photos. I’m grateful to Lindsey for traveling all the way from Eugene and letting me get so experimental with my photography!

-Chris