“I like surrealism,” says Elaine Hughes. That much is evident in Hughes’ Sunset Print Award-winning piece entitled Chaotic Profiling. Hughes also won a Sunset Print Award in 2013 for the surreal and aptly titled Dream World.

Chosen by judges at the recent PhotoPro Expo 2015 Print Competition in Covington, Ky., Chaotic Profiling was hard to overlook, and look again to catch all the subtleties in the dreamlike world Hughes created.

“There are many ways to interpret life. In this image we see the profile of the main subject intertwined with a secondary version of itself. This way of looking at things can create chaotic thoughts. The concept of my image is the end result,” says Hughes.

Note the child enjoying his time by the ear of the main figure. “Maybe he lives here in this strange, chaotic and magical place,” adds Hughes.

Hughes’ surreal dreamscapes take months to create as she gathers photos she takes on her travels with her husband and former Sunset Print Award winner Robert Hughes and combines them into one cohesive (or chaotic, as the case may be) image.

“I take photographs everywhere I go. It could be something in the hotel room, outside the door, or anything I find interesting that I might be able to use. I also study a lot of animated films and art for inspiration,” she says.

All the photographs are combined in Photoshop and blended in multiple layers. With hue and saturation Hughes finds just the right color scheme to convey her concept. For this one, the plays on blue seemed just right to her.