Some infrared experiments and an INCREDIBLE final picture.
If you didn't catch the earlier post, I told you I was experimenting with infrared photography. I'm getting better at it. Infrared looks similar to normal black and white except the greens and reds turn white, while the whites and blues turn dark. It gives a pretty surreal image, but most of the difficulty is finding the right lighting conditions and composure.
This one below is a lomo style image of a few broken down old trucks I came across while making a wrong turn. I'm not a fan of trucks or anything but I thought this would make a good nostalgic kind of picture.
Ready for my final image? Maybe it's not terribly incredible to you but it is VERY moving for me. I have a fascination with things that are left behind to fade. Old stores that bankrupt owners had left sparsely furnished, old abandoned houses with furniture still visible through the windows, etc...
It always makes me wonder of who took care of these places, there must have been a happy family there at one time. How long has it been? What happened? Where are they now? All these questions run through my head. I've been thinking for a while that I wanted to get a good image of an old childrens swing set left abandoned and today I came across exactly what I was looking for. I hope that you too enjoy this picture, I spent painstaking time making it look the way I see it in my head. Let me know if you like this picture, if it moves you, and if you like the others of course too. Click on it to see it properly.
18 comments:
Mr. C, you are so talented! I just thought you were funny at first, but apparently you have some amazing photography skills too! Visually, I really do love all of them, but first one is my favorite though.
I like your reasoning behind why you favor the last photo so much...an interesting perspective! To be honest, the abandoned swing set makes me feel a little sad and dismal.
Thanks for ruining my day.
Just kidding! :)
I also have a fascination with things left behind. Your
last photo--despite being visually fantastic, makes me feel nostalgic. When I was living in Putnam County, my house was built on old farmland. I used to walk through the woods to the abandoned house where the farmer used to live. There was still an old tractor in the front, and a kids swingset. Remnants of life long gone. I used to spent hours there, trying to imagine his life, looking through the possessions that still littered the entranceway.
Well done, once again.
I have a fascination with cemeteries. Really old poorly taken care of ones.
I love them all. I thought of snow with the first two. The technique makes it look like you were able to capture the picture after freshly fallen snow before anyone else stepped in it. I'm not a fan of trucks but I like the vibrancy of the color.
The last picture is beautiful. You almost made it look like a painting instead of a picture.
@Lisa- Well thanks for the kind words lisa :) I'm glad you appreciate them and understand there's more to me than just being silly. I'm glad you liked the first pic too, I always get so critical of myself especially when I'm trying something new.
I did want that last picture to look sad, and hoped it would stir a few emotions.
@Hannah- oh wow I bet that was amazing to see that, especially being right on the property! Any chance you ever got photos? I would be doing the same as you, imagining how everything was used when they lived there and what happened. Thanks for sharing your memory Hannah, and thanks for liking the pic of mine for the same reasons :)
Natalie- I'm glad you appreciate the cemeteries too, I only really like the old, forgotten ones. I kind of feel good sometimes visiting someones final place when they've been so long forgotten.
The IR pics do look like snow, its really cool. Anything bright green or red will turn up white because infrared bounces off of it. The problem is darker greens photograph more blue, so I always have to find a scene where there is a lot of light to bring out the greens but not too bright to where it will overexpose.
The last photo I kind of did work on as a painting, there is so much to the picture I wanted to make almost everything unique. Thanks Natalie.
,
Your final picture was the most moving. Love your photographs, one can only imagine the effort going into them. :)
By the way, could you some time explain how you get this infra-red experiment done, just for very amateur photographers like me. I really enjoy the effects they have.
Cheers, Sreya ^_^
Loved the last picture. Being hopelessly sentemental, I can't stay in places like that too long... I eventually get sad, and wish I could somehow magically bring life back to where people once laughed, cried, and lived.
Great shots! Love the detail of the first 2, and the last one does look like a painting.
I really like the infrared ones, I think you could do a lot with that technique, they make me feel like I've stepped into some kind of monochrome parallel universe ... which, being a geek, I find kinda cool.
Ive often wondered why people will leave a decrepit looking building, old broken down trucks, cars and/or a house still standing. In most cases, they are an eyesore and with an old abandoned house that has no running water and/or electricity a firebug's haven to create havoc!
Oh wow I love the 3rd one so much!
The first one is my favorite, but when enlarging the last one I didn't even pay attention to the swing set as that old tree in the background stole the show for me :) Great work going on here, Mr. C
I really like the nostalgia thing you're doing, although the final picture makes me more nostalgic than the trucks - I think because the colors are so vivid in that one. It looks fab, just not vintage. The final pic, on the other hand, looks really vintage and the muted colors give it the feeling of sad mystery I think you were going for.
Was that constructive? ^_^
@Sreya: sorry I didn't respond sooner, of course I can explain it. Our eyes don't see infrared light, but our cameras can. Unfortunately they put filters to block it inside the camera. Remove the inside filter and use an infrared lens filter (which looks black and cuts out most visible light), we get that surreal image. Then the issue is just using photoshop to enhance everything. Do you have photoshop? I'd be glad to help you.
@Maisie: yes I agree its not always somewhere you want to stay a long time in, but that emotion and curiousity draw me in so strongly.
@JJ: hehe I wish I had some fires close by to take pics of though, you lucky girl.
@GI: aw heh I was hoping you would like the IR. You can geek it up as much as you want dear!
More great photos Mr.C. Can't wait for it to be winter so we can see what you do with snow pictures. Roll on Christmas.
I love the first two- it looks like there is snow covering everything.
All these photos are really enjoyable because you have to look at them for a while to start to understand them.
God I wish I coudl take pictures this gorgeous. I've said it before on your other blog but you have aknack for capturing much more than just an image.
Very cool infrared photos.
And the last one almost made me cry... there's just something so sad about the imagined happiness lost to the ravages of time. Or maybe it's the reminder of the complete impermanence of things and my own attachment to them that makes me sad. Or maybe it's the reminder that life is so short and fleeting... I really should try to take a more Buddhist perspective and be content and present in the moment instead of longing for things that are gone and/or never were and never will be...
Bottom line, it's amazing you can do all that with one photo.
Awesome job.
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