View from the Visitors Center
Badlands National Park, South Dakota
Photographing in infrared is perfect for midday. All I need are a few clouds in the sky and some interesting foliage. This framed view is directly across the park road from the Visitors Center. It is great place to catch a little food and a photo or two.
‘Southeast Corner Rest Stop’
Heatherwood Summer
This quiet spot is in the southeast corner of our garden. We planted a set of various conifers and a few deciduous trees to provide a cosy corner to rest and view the lower section of Heatherwood. The corner is highlighted with several uncommon conifers that provide special interest as we sit and enjoy the sights.
In the spring we admire the blossoms from a field of daffodils and trees from our crabapple grove. In the summer we view our multicolored meadow as we gaze up to our house above. In the fall, splotches of yellow, orange, red, and purple of the fall foliage pepper the garden in front of us. During the winter, the green and yellow conifers dominate the view complemented by the red, yellow, and oranges of the red, yellow, and midwinter fire branches of the dogwood shrubs. It is a great place to just sit and enjoy the world around us.
‘The Flume Planting Area’
Heatherwood Summer
In the midst of summer, our historic flume section gets lost in the shadows and the green leaves of the surrounding trees. Standard black and white image processing still does not separate the flume from the surrounding elements. Infrared photography turns green leaves and other green vegetation a white or light grey tone. Now the flume pops out from the surrounding trees and grasses.
‘Lower Garden’
Heatherwood Summer
It’s midday. the sun is directly above, the temperature is close to 100 degrees. It’s not the ideal time to photograph the garden. But wait, the harsh sun reflecting off the garden vegetation and bright blue skies make an ideal opportunity to work in the infrared spectrum. The bright reflections from the grass and foliage contrast with the dark tone of the blue sky providing an interesting perspective.
“Patio Rock Garden in Infrared”
Heatherwood Summer
I needed a little change, so I thought I would post an infrared image of our summer garden. This image is of our new rock garden planted during the spring of 2021. By early summer, the plants had taken hold and started blooming. It will take a couple of years for this area to catch up with our rock garden and meadow planting areas.
“Sunlight on the Curves”
Palouse, Washington
Springtime in the Palouse is a wonderful time to practice my skills using infrared photography. The bright green winter wheat and the great clouds add to the experience. It was a cool windy day with rapidly moving clouds. Patches of sunlight rolled along the hills. I spent about an hour and created almost 100 images trying to catch different patches of sunlight crossing the two curvy hills at the same time. Patience paid off as I was able to catch the bright strips of sunlight on the two ridges.
“Waterfall & Kotoji”
Heatherwood Japanese Garden
Spring brings out the energy of emerging new life. The sensitivity of infrared to the bright greens and yellows highlight spring’s energy. Springtime in Heatherwood is the time for me to explore with my infrared photography.
Neighbor’s Pasture
Heatherwood Spring
The clouds make this infrared image of our neighbor’s pasture. We “borrow” this scene for our lower Heatherwood garden. We are surrounded on three sides (N,E, and W) by hills and look over a valley to the south. In the design of Heatherwood, we have opened up and framed vistas of the surrounding countryside. There is always something interesting to explore with our eyes and imagination.
“Overlooking Heatherwood and the Valley Below”
Heatherwood Spring
It was a sunny late afternoon. The lower yard was in bright sunlight and the valley below was covered with clouds. I had not photographed in infrared in over six months, so I decided to grab my IR camera and play with the light and shadows.
Spring is the time to work with infrared photography as all the green emerge from the deciduous trees and the spring grasses. I look forward to experimenting and improving my IR skills as the hills turn green around us.
“Bygone Days”
Along Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia
This is one of my first infrared images that I created about ten years ago. It is interesting to look back and see how my photography has changed over the years. It is also interesting to notice how my subject interest has remained the same. I am always on the lookout for old structures that cause me to think and reflect on the way life use to be.
This image was created on the way back home from a photography workshop with Tony Sweet in the Smoky Mountains National Park. One of the themes he worked with the group on was infrared photography. Old farm structures were one of the subjects we worked on. Skip forward to today … I am planning a trip to the Palouse this spring to photograph the rolling hills and old farms. This summer I have scheduled a workshop with Tony Sweet focusing again on infrared imaging. How things have changed; how things have remained the same.