Flying in Dreams Levitation Photography

About Flying in Dreams Levitation Photography

Flying in Dreams is a photography series created with the levitation photography technique. The series shows children in white outfits appearing to float above the ground. Each image is composed from two or more frames taken from the same angle, with and without the subject. The frame without the subject is used to remove the supports that held each pose. The series was produced through location scouting, outfit making, pose and prop planning, lighting setup, shooting and digital editing. The intent is to express the purity of childhood dreams.

Flying in Dreams Levitation Photography by Maksim Zinchuk, recipient of the Silver A' Design Award in Photography and Photo Manipulation, emerges from the rich tradition of surrealist image-making that has captivated audiences since the early twentieth century, yet achieves its effects through distinctly contemporary technical means. The work presents a vision of childhood transcendence within an autumnal natural setting, where two young figures hover impossibly above a forest floor carpeted in warm amber and russet foliage. The photographer demonstrates exceptional command of composite technique, seamlessly integrating figure and environment to create an image that reads with convincing naturalism despite its fantastical subject matter. The chromatic strategy proves particularly sophisticated, establishing a warm analogous harmony of earth tones that suggests the transitional quality of autumn while providing dramatic contrast through the pure white garments adorning both subjects. This chromatic choice carries iconographic weight, positioning the figures as beings apart from the organic decay surrounding them, their pristine attire suggesting innocence preserved or spiritual purity maintained against temporal passage. The compositional arrangement displays careful attention to visual rhythm, with the primary figure positioned according to classical proportional guidelines while her counterpart echoes her pose at diminished scale, creating both depth recession and thematic resonance. The identical outstretched arm positions suggest either flight preparation or peaceful surrender, while closed eyes indicate interior experience rather than external engagement. The work invites consideration of dreams as spaces of liberation from physical constraint, childhood as a state of imaginative possibility, and the forest as archetypal threshold between ordinary and extraordinary realms. Viewers might contemplate their own remembered experiences of flight in dreams and the particular freedom such nocturnal visions afford.