We often turn to our own hometowns for inspiration. It’s usually where our photography journey begins. It’s the first place that comes to mind when we want to create something personal. Home tends to mean different things for different people, so it’s always a fascinating approach to creative work. Today’s noteworthy example is “Bright Beyond This Black,” a long-term photography project by Dean Pearson.

“This series is the result of three years of exploring the lonely back roads that surround the outskirts of my hometown in Scotland,” the UK-based photographer and filmmaker introduced this project. If you’re looking for ideas on how to re-imagine the familiar, I’m sure you’ll find plenty here.

Pearson, who hails from a small town on the eastern coast of Scotland, is also a co-owner of production company Ironstar Films. When he’s not working on projects like the company’s first feature film “Tellurian,” he crafts visual narratives in surreal and cinematic photography. While his career path was originally in engineering, he very recently decided to become a full-time artist.

However, as with many creative minds, there was a time that he felt lost with his work. While he explored different styles and aesthetics, he always felt like there was something was missing.

“I was never truly happy with what I was creating. It was only a few years ago when my love for movies and photography collided that things started to change,” he shared. “I had finally found the missing piece. Understanding the power of an image to tell a story in a cinematic way changed everything for me and I started looking at light and darkness in a new way.”

Invoking the power of surreal, cinematic imagery

While his visual influences change all the time, Pearson has found that he always returns to the works of Todd Hido, Simon Stalenhag and Roger Deakins. “Their dramatic and melancholy mood of their images never fails to inspire me,” he noted, and it’s indeed evident in this series. His filmmaking background also shines here, especially in how he depicts his shooting locations as individual narratives. Each image feels like a frame plucked out of a movie, prompting curiosity for the reader to wonder how the story unfolds.

As with the rest of work so far, this photography project is brimming with surrealist vibes. On this, Pearson said he wanted to create “the feeling of a dream, reality with a thin layer of surrealism thrown on top.”

To achieve this, he prefers to shoot in foggy, overcast or rainy conditions.

“I find that these conditions distort the world around us, creating that dream-like feeling, like when you try to recall a dream you had the night before. It’s a bit hazy and pieces are missing but you remember vividly how it made you feel.”

Chasing darkness and light

Another standout feature of this photography project is how Pearson creates a delicate balance of darkness of light. “As the sun sets and the sky fills with shades of indigo, I wait for the darkness to expose what light remains,” Pearson wrote in his project description. It perfectly describes the creative process behind this body of work.

He also noted that this striking style is partly inspired by the light of everyday life. “It’s not uncommon at sunset to find me lost in a moment watching a slither of light fading away as it moves slowly across a wall in my home.”

Visions of home

All these techniques, inspirations and emotions come together to create a hypnotic version of his hometown. Still, Pearson told me that he doesn’t really see his hometown or childhood memories any differently through this project.

“As a kid I always loved escaping into the countryside with friends. We would hop on our BMX bikes and ride into the unknown, finding new locations to build our ramps and exploring places we had never seen before. I think this connection to the back roads stayed with me all these years on an unconscious level and only fully resurfaced when I was introduced to the work of Simon Stalenhag and Todd Hido. I remember having such a strong connection to their work and getting lost in their worlds that I knew I had to create my own. The places where we used to hang out might have changed but my memories still remain the same, albeit slightly faded.”

However, as a viewer, this photography project makes me feel like I’m stepping into snippets of his memories recreated in an alternate universe. This particular version of his hometown, to me, is where everything looks familiar but feels vastly different. I think the rest of his project statement reinforces this impact.

“Driving for hours through thick veils of fog, narrow twisted roads form a network of concrete veins, which take me deeper into a mysterious land that feels like its being explored for the first time.”

Make sure to check out Dean Pearson’s website and Behance portfolio to see more of his impressive creative projects.

All photos by Dean Pearson. Used with permission.