THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support. We have now reached 100%, our first goal, that is a third of the book. You are magic! Now let's move on to the second stage: 200% :) that will help pay for the rest of the book and build an even "wilder" project with the matching Wind of Dreams exhibition, to be held this automn at the Aves Festival (Belgium) and the International Festival of Montier en Der.

Let's dream together!

The book "Wind of Dreams" is a compilation of my best pictures over a seven-year period, while on immersion experiences into the wilderness of Norway and Iceland. This photographic and written work aims at conveying all the strength and poetry of these northern landscapes, as well as my feelings and emotions in these immense spaces. So many dreams come true…

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I became a photographer with the desire to share my feelings when alone in the wilderness, an experience that led me way beyond anything I could ever have imagined.

I wanted to leave society as we know it and immerse myself for several months in a row in wild open spaces, in order to dream and breathe better, far away from established rules. I craved for freedom, for connections and meaning.

Alone in the wild to live through these experiences and feel them deep down within myself, I left behind all the noises, the things and knowledge learned, to capture an echo of the world, of our roots.

So I set off in 2009 and repeated the experience for several months every year, completely autonomous in my fitted vehicle, with a few tents for camping, to have as close a bond as I could with Nature. I was accompanied for the first few months of some of these ‘immersions’, then went about on my own across several seasons, from summer to winter. This was a singular and intense experience that I now would like to share with you.

The pictures

This book, a compilation of my best pictures, conveys the utter magic of these Northern landscapes with their celestial glittering, the poetry of the movements and lights, the details of textures, the secrets of my immersions, the strength of the elements...be they winds, clouds, mountains, glaciers, volcanoes and oceans.

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This project is an adventure. To dive in pictures taken during seven years to retrace these incredible moments and share them with you. I have chosen 93 pictures through the mysterious atmosphere of the mountains, the movement of the wind, the clouds, the force of the ocean, glaciers in the heart of the ice or aerial photographs, wild and harmonious shapes of sandurs, the enchantment and metamorphosis of the night, the northern lights...

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The story

Besides the photographs, the secrets of how I lived these experiences, together with my deepest doubts and feelings, are delivered to you through eleven texts. These will tell you a story of changing connections to Space, Time and the Elements – an open gate leading to another world where landscapes sometimes veer between dream and reality. The book was designed in such a way that you can almost experience these immersions yourself.

Diving into the Wild and deep down inside of you. Living close to the elements, becoming one with them. Talking to the mountains, the wind and the ocean to live far from time, in a world of poetry. A world where Space and Time dilate, allowing thinking, movements and dreams infinite freedom. Experiencing the loneliness and silence. Flowing with the motions of the mist. Observing changing landscapes and one’s own metamorphosis. Feeling the power of the elements at the heart of the storms. Spreading one’s wings and flying high above inaccessible places. Falling under the charm of the deep night, the dancing sky and its northern lights. Bonding with Nature to go back to one’s roots and origins.

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The texts are poetic, metaphorical and dreamlike. Writing played an important part in my life during these immersion experiences. Be it with light or with words, I sought a way to express the strongest, deepest feeling and convey it as exactly as I could.

Making the book travel through translation

The book will be translated into English so that it can travel to English-speaking countries as well as those where I have experienced these immersions : Scandinavia ;)

Book characteristics

Landscape format 24x 30 cm

144 pages

90 photographs in three alternating formats.

Some photographs will also presented in landscape format (24x36 cm)

The book’s layout provides a clean, dynamic and original finish.

Use of a photoengraver

Printed on fine art paper – July 2016

Limited to 1,000 copies

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I was so frequently asked to make a book, at exhibitions and conferences. Well, here it is! I waited seven years and the right moment for it. It was only after my last immersion in Iceland last autumn that I felt the “first chapter” of the story was complete.

This fine art book will require six months’ work (January-July 2016). I am very demanding as to the quality of my photographs and want the final print to convey the intensity of the atmospheres experienced. Following the advice of an expert friend, I have searched for the best printers of the country and looked at their presses and printing processes in order to have a print of the highest quality.

Machine tests were carried out on four different fine art papers. The book will be printed on matte fine art paper to provide pleasant handling and feel to the touch and to perfectly translate the depth of blacks, the intensity of blues, the radiance of golds, the contrasts of lights as well as the various nuances of graded colours.

A special profile was created with this specific paper in order to provide an exclusive rendering.

Self-publishing

For more freedom of choice and expression, I decided to self-publish the book. This is also in keeping with my approach during these seven years of ‘immersion’ and life as a free thinker.

This project is a true adventure for me. Flipping through the various pictures and notebooks compiled during seven years makes me feel as if I were living these incredible moments again. This is what I want to share with you now.

It is also a human adventure as such: making this book will require six months work, both on my own and within a team made of a proof reader, a translator, a photoengraver, a printer and a manufacturer/designer).

Budget

Creating such a high quality book requires an extensive budget.

The overall budget for 1,000 copies including translation, creation of the graphic identity and layout, photoengraving and printing is €15,400, not mentioning my own work, photographing, writing and designing, but this will come later.

Still, for the book to be accessible to everyone, its price will be €39.

Exhibitions and Conferences

I have been telling my ‘immersion” stories since 2010 at exhibitions and conferences in various European festivals.

A new exhibition will be organised for The "Wind of Dreams" with a view to sharing these experiences, encourage cross-thinking and exchange perspectives. This new exhibition will be made possible – or at least easier - if the second level is reached.

It will show twenty five 60x80 cm satin finish fine art paper prints, glued on Dibond.

Budget: €3,500

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