Surreal photography often begins with personal, strange, or dreamlike ideas. We are going tap into the world of dreams, feelings, and the subconscious — all starting from your imagination. Below are four activities to help you generate and test surreal ideas before you begin your photo series.

Sometimes we forget our dreams, but we often remember how they made us feel. This warm-up helps you explore ideas from memory or emotion.

Activity

Close your eyes for 1–2 minutes and try to remember a recent dream — or a strong feeling from a dream (e.g. flying, falling, floating).

In your portfolio:

• Write the title, Dream Journaling at the top of a new page

• Write 5–7 keywords or short phrases that describe this dream or feeling.

• Example: “falling, endless stairs, blue sky, empty city, giant cat”

• These words will help form your surreal concept later.

Surreal art often starts with strange “what if” questions. This activity helps you build unique, unexpected settings or events.

Activity

• Answer 3–5 of these “What if…” prompts or come up with your own (You could even ask an AI program for ideas in this brainstorm!) Be as wild or illogical as you want.

Examples

• What if animals could talk?

• What if gravity stopped working?

• What if your home was underwater?

• What if the sky was made of mirrors?

• What if you woke up on another planet?

Use these as building blocks for your own alternate reality or dream world. For each what-if, list 3-5 dot points on what would change or how this world would look.

Decor8 (n.d) Mood Board, URL

A surreal concept doesn’t need to make sense — it just needs to feel right. This mood board will help you visualise your idea using images, colours, and textures.

Activity

• Create a simple collage using printed photos, Pinterest, canva or another program.

• Find 5–10 images that reflect the feeling, mood, or objects from your dream words or alternate reality.

• These can include animals, environments, random objects, faces, or textures.

Challenge

Try combining images that don’t normally belong together.

Example

“A jellyfish flying through a desert” or “A staircase made of clouds”

You will use this collage to inform your planning and photography.

Details

• This mood board will go in your portfolio. You can collect images in a folder or on a Pinterest board to print, cut up and stick together. OR make the whole board on Canva and then print it. Your mood board should be ten or more images. 

• You can use AI generated images in your mood board.

• Images should be APA referenced.

Use these questions to begin sketching, writing, or planning your surreal image idea. Your dream photo doesn’t need to be literal — it can use objects or colours as symbols.

Answer these questions in your journal:

• What colours or objects stood out in your dream or idea?

• What emotions or moods do you want the image to have?

• Where does your image take place? (inside, underwater, floating, forest, outer space, etc.)

• Which 2–3 objects could you combine to symbolise your dream?

Use these answers to develop your first photo test.

Now that you have some ideas, it’s time to try them out. These are test photos — they don’t have to be perfect yet.

Activity

• Use your phone or camera to take simple test shots at school or home.

• Find everyday objects and experiment with:

• Unusual angles (e.g., worm’s eye, tilted)

• Placing objects in unexpected places

• Adding effects with materials like mirrors, plastic, cloth, string lights, or coloured cellophane

Goal

Create an image that feels surreal — even if it doesn’t fully explain a story.

Once you’ve developed a strong idea, choose your favourite surreal concept and refine it into a final image. Include the following in your process diary:

• Your dream keywords and alternate reality notes

• A photo of your mood board

• Any sketches or planning

• Test photos and final image

• A short paragraph explaining what the image represents or expresses