Pismo Beach Palms in Infrared

Palm Trees, Pismo Beach, CA
(c) Darlene Lyon Kruse - All Rights Reserved

Infrared photography is a special love of mine. The dreamy, surrealistic images. The graininess. The contrast between the white-whites and the black-blacks. "Palm Trees, Pismo Beach" is a favorite of mine from my archives. I chose to share it this week because infrared is on my mind. Last summer I lost the camera that had been converted for digital infrared. After much testing to see if I could shoot infrared with an unconverted camera, I just this week purchased a new camera that I am having converted to shoot digital infrared. So I'm excited and eager to be back in the world of infrared photography again.

About this photo: I found these palms at Pismo Beach, California during a visit with my son and daughter-in-law. On that trip I discovered what perfect infrared subjects palm trees are -- the contrast of trunk and leaves, the feathery quality to the palm fronds especially appeal to me -- and made several. This is one of my two favorites from that trip. Because this was done on film, I don't have the metadata. I do know that it was made on Kodak HIE (high-speed infrared) film with a red filter, 35-mm. film format, probably done with my Nikon FM2.

What I love about this image: The palm trees. There's such an other-worldiness to them. The curved wall of the planter they sit in. Also, the curved wall and the building behind the palms have an Art Deco quality that I remember from the Miami Vice TV show, even without any color.

A little about infrared photography: I began photographing with infrared film in the early 1990s after seeing a portfolio of work in a photography magazine. What interested me was the surreal quality of the images and the fact that the best infrared photographs are made during the time of day when visible light photography is at its worst -- 11 AM to 3PM.

The infrared portion of the light spectrum lies beyond what our human eyes are capable of seeing. Infrared film reveals this unseen world to us. I don't know much about the physics of it -- HOW it works doesn't particularly interest me. My interest is as an artist. Somehow, magickally it sometimes seems, in the infrared world grass and green leaves turn white while water and blue skies tend to go black or at least very dark. Kodak HIE added some graininess that I liked a lot. And because of the makeup of the film emulsion itself, there was a soft glow to subjects. Oh, and because of focus issues, there was an added softness.

Kodak has since stopped making HIE which is a great loss to all of us who ever shot it. But there is digital infrared now. Definitely a different animal in many ways -- but with its own special qualities and a unique beauty.

Next week I'll be writing about digital infrared -- how it's different, what makes it special in its own right -- and posting one of my favorite digital infrared images.