This week I decided to take a drive to Westwold.
Westwold is a small farming settlement about half an hour away from my home in Pritchard, that borders Highway 97 on the way to the country town of Falkland, and the larger city of Vernon.
The sun was out and I chose to again use my IR [infrared] camera. This time of year the snow is slowly melting and the landscape in the lowlands is rather drab. The mountains are still covered with snow, but photography along the roads will only give a view of dull brown fields, trees that look lifeless, and pathways off the asphalt highway are muddy. It’s certainly not the kind of scenery that welcomes normal colour photography.
My answer to that lackluster panorama is to use my infrared camera. My IR camera gives me more creative possibilities over the colours, and even those images I convert to Black and White.
Two weeks ago I photographed interesting architectural features of buildings along the main street in the little town of Chase. In Westwold one can find a post office, a church, a couple of restaurants and a school. But there is no main street or town center. Those buildings are scattered along the highway at different locations. The restaurants both offer good food, but aren’t what I’d call photogenic. However, along the very straight highway there are many old buildings that I assume have been standing since the early 1900s - or maybe longer.
I have stopped many times to take photographs along that road, but other than the church I have never photographed any of those old fashion structures with infrared.
I waited until around 2 p.m. so that the shade would be at the back of the buildings. I get better shots with IR if the light falls directly on my subjects. Also, with the afternoon sun in the west I can pull off on the right where there is more off-road space to park.
When I last wrote about IR I said using a camera that only “sees” infrared light is fun, and because you can easily manipulate the interesting colours.
The modified IR camera captures the wavelengths of light that fall outside the visible spectrum. Those that write about infrared photography call it “false colour”.
I begin with how I want to make the picture and get to continue the creative process after I return home with evening sessions to see how far I can change my images with different computer programs. I always end up with many versions both colour and B&W of each to pick from.
Nevertheless, if I didn’t have that IR camera I would still be out with my camera during this drab seasonal change. I think I would have my digital camera set to B&W or I would be converting photos to B&W.
Photographer Elliott Erwitt wrote, “It’s about reacting to what you see, hopefully without preconception. You can find pictures anywhere.”
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