I had a lovely, peaceful New Year’s Eve.  It was just Nicole and I, a bottle of dealcoholized wine, and a few donuts.  Earlier in the day we began a little game we’ve played before … I choose some interesting foods and she creates a meal with them (adding whatever she likes).  This time she’s got a celery root, a mango papaya, some wonton wrappers, lily sprouts, sliced water chestnuts, and some jalapenos to work with.   Tomorrow I’ll see what she comes up with.  I imagine it will be wonderful … it always is.

I brought the new year in with a new image.

Here’s the latest in a series of abstract leaf photographs I’ve been working on for a few months now.

Begonia Leaf

As usual, I’m all about the details.   Here’s a closer look…

Begonia Leaf Detail

The delicate appearance of my model’s skin here is exacly the sort of thing I was looking for when I decided to start shooting infrared.

Is too much sugar killing us?

“Agh!  You cleaned the sink!”

This is not a terribly surprising exclamation in our home.  Just the day before I accused Nicole of getting the sink wet, if you can imagine such a thing!  Whatever was she thinking?

I’d spotted a couple hairs that had arranged themselves in a pattern that caught my eye, and I wanted to make a photograph….

Fortunately, my good wife is amazingly tolerant of my eccentricities and remained calm, as she always does.  She is accustomed to me making photographs from all manner of things, including this ice cream bowl that had been set in the sink to soak before washing.

Ice cream bowl with spoon

This will probably become a portfolio photograph when I’ve taken it through print-adjust-repeat process.

Well, I did go back to that tree yesterday, but I’m not satisfied with the results yet.  I’ll go again tomorrow morning to catch some different light and try slightly different composition.

In the meantime, a goofy IR self-portrait.

Informal self portrait

One of the things I am really enjoying about IR photography is the way that it separates the tonal values of tree trunks and foliage, revealing the form of the trunks and branches.

Dark branches against light foliage makes for dramatic compositions

Here’s another good example.  It would be very hard to separate the trunks and foliage this way with conventional colour photography.

Wide tree with bench

This is actually a crop from a different composition.  I’ll definitely return soon to shoot this from a bit farther away in order to eliminate the distracting background.

A couple false colour IR images of Nicole sketching in the park yesterday:

Nicole sketching in the park

IR image of Nicole sketching in the park

I spent much of the day yesterday at the museum of civilization.  Whenever I go I am struck by the beauty of the building itself, inside and out.

I had my D300-IR camera with me, which is usual these days.  I’m taking it with me most everywhere, shooting many different subjects to get a feel for what it will do.  Then back at home there is endless playing with post-processing for the same reason.

I didn’t expect to be very interested in the false-colour approach that many people use, but sometimes I like the effect.  Here’s an example from the museum.

IR photograph of the Museum of Civilization