I fell in love with a new way of shooting recently – Infrared. Infrared shooting isn’t per se new, it’s only that I have found it recently, and had been able to test how it looks, and how it changes what you see.
It works amazingly well with certain landscape photography, and when Fujifilm X-Photographer Johann van der Walt, put his X-E1 up for sale, I went ahead and bought it, and it’s my favourite toy. Johann is an amazing landscape photographer, and he understand his gear amazingly well.
His X-E1 was in such good condition still, so when he sold it, I knew I would still get a great machine, in good working order.
Infrared is beyond the normal spectrum of what we can observe with our eyes, and only a special filter lets those rays through. Infrared has unique features on what specifically it does to greens in an image, or reds, or blues, and it’s fascinating to read up on it.
I love photographing people, but I also have this deep love for landscapes, because of its rawness, it presents itself to you just the way that it is. It can’t “pose”, or change its expression, and how you find it on any particular day, is how it decided to be, unapologetically, whether it be sunny, or overcast, or filled with stunning clouds.
I love shooting with my 10-24mm lens when I shoot landscapes, for the pure reason that it provides “more” image. It’s wide, and gets a whole lot of picture in.
Infrared shooting is a fascinating genre to play with, whether it be with a converted camera, a filter, or even dedicated Infrared cameras built with the ability from scratch.
It stays put in my camera bag, and when opportunity presents itself, I can’t help but grab for it, even if it’s not understood. It all makes sense in post-production later when I shift channels, and I love the different colours, it makes me feel like I am a dreamworld, an Underland – away from the mundane.
Yolandi Jacobsz, Specialized Photographer