SLEEP TOGETHER – Bastian Kalous

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Sleep Together – Bastian Kalous – Sweden, Germany

It was one of our last vacations days in Sweden when we took a trip to a small island not too far from Gothenburg. When we got there the sun was shining and a lot of people had our very same idea, so we decided to avoid the crowd and left for a walk along the coast. We found a nice spot on a flat rock; a light breeze was refreshing the air bringing a salty smell from the sea. Julia and Schoki decided to take a break from walking, watching and shooting pictures, and felt asleep in the sun. I pulled out the camera and captured this special, relaxing moment.

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I loved Time Zero, the movie, and back then I developed a fascination for magical sceneries with crazy colors, orange flames and all the manipulation stuff but, unfortunately, Polaroid was already out of business and I had no idea where I could find that specific film. I took my first picture with a plastic Polaroid 600 camera, than I owned a Image Camera and finally my first SX-70. When, not a long time ago, I finally found some Time Zero film, I began creating my own, surreal little world on instant material; I was hooked.

Most of my pictures are shot in the Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald, Bayern Forest Nat’l Park, where I go for long walks along with my dog and both a Polaroid  SX-70 and a Wista 4×5 Field cameras in the backpack.

I keep my eyes open for landscapes that I can transform in surreal sceneries, transmitting good mood and the little stories behind them. I try to show the perfect ‘unperfectness’ of Mother Nature, in order to bring the viewer in a quieter and not so frantic world. A world with more time for watching, listening, feeling and dreaming.

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