My last two articles discussed using black and white photography and I’d like carry on with that topic this week.
This past week when there was one of those almost rare sunny clear blue sky February days I decided to take a drive around my neighbourhood to make some pictures with my infrared camera.
That camera gives me scenes of colourfully altered reality when the light is right with results that are often unusually deep blue skies, and trees that are yellow or white instead of green. However, continuing on with what I have been writing and thinking about, when I loaded the day’s files on my computer I converted the colourful images to black and white.
I like the striking effects I can sometimes get that are contrasty with dark skies and white vegetation when I make black and white infrared photographs. They seem to have what some photographers call an “otherworldly” look.
I like converting my digital files to black and white, and I enjoy the creative manipulation available to me.
Scenic photographer Nathan Wirth says this about creativity, “I wanted something different to experiment with, and I saw the potential to experiment with those infrared whites that come from the greens and the infrared blacks that come from the blues…and manipulate them until I found the stark contrasts that I was interested in.”
Infrared is a different way to visually discuss a subject, and a black and white photograph communicates in a subtle way. To me the combination of those two allows a photographer to stretch his or her creativity and show our world in different terms.
Digital and infrared gets me involved in the complete process from picking up the camera, the fun of doing photography, to completing the image on the computer. I enjoy the creativity of the infrared process that includes the computer. And wandering the neighbourhood on a sunny winter day with any kind of camera is so darned fun.
These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net. Stop by Enman’s Camera at 423 Tranquille Road in Kamloops. I sell an interesting selection of used photographic equipment. Don’t hesitate to call me at 250-371-3069.
