An intimate photo project about how we move when we sleep together

Paul Maria Schneggenburger has always been fascinated by human sleep. "This is an unconscious state, and scientists have not yet understood what is happening," says the photographer. At the beginning of his career, he took pictures of sleeping people wherever he saw them: on park benches, on trains, at parties.

In 2010, he came up with the idea to take pictures of sleeping with a six-hour exposure. First he filmed himself, then couples, families and everyone who could be persuaded to come to his studio in Vienna. Intimate and surreal photos from this series were taken on black sheets in a barely lit room.

"The Dream of Lovers" is an ongoing series of photographs. Schneggenburger invites everyone interested to participate in the project.