Special Olympics Georgia wanted to thank their seven corporate sponsors with a unique recognition award that captured both the emotional and athletic highlights of the games. For this reason, they hit upon the idea of my creating a photo composite made up of several different scenes at the Games.

For both drama and aesthetic reasons, faces and body parts were swapped from multiple photos. A brilliant sky was added to give the piece a more aspirational feel, and also to make the sponsors’ logos pop in contrast. I also added a stadium with victory stands in the background – an image which never existed at the time of the games. This gave the Dreamscape photomontage not only the sensation of high attendance but also it elevated the event to Olympic stature. The playing field is in actuality a concrete plaza in Sicily, dyed green.

This idealized reality ended up giving pleasure and pride to all involved: SOGA, its sponsors and athletes.

Further reading: “Say Thank You with Photo Collage Corporate Recognition Awards”