Infrared Photography

WELCOME TO DOUG'S WORLD OF INFRARED Timbercreek Apartments #3213 My sweet little kitty, Katrina, and me on the balcony of my apartment, overlooking the creek three stories below. What a great place!

MONAHANS SANDHILLS SUNSET On any Big Bend Photo Workshop given by the Photographic Center in Dallas, the first stop is always the Monahans Sandhills State Park. It's a truly magical place, especially in the light of a full moon with the wind whispering across the sand.

BOQUILLAS SCENIC Just some of the scenery along the hike to Boquillas Canyon on the Rio Grande River.

BOQUILLAS CLIFF And some more.

HOT SPRINGS RIVER CANE I came across this great hiding place in a stand of tall cane. Kids would have a blast in here. I sure did!

ALIEN SEED POD As many times as I've been back to the hot springs, I've never been able to locate this rock again. Maybe it did hatch.

HOT SPRINGS STORM As we were there in the Hot Springs area doing some shooting with our model, Lyn, a storm began brewing. It really gave her the look of a damsel in distress, especially as she hobbled barefoot over the rocks and sand.

HOMER WILSON RANCH CORRAL It amazes me to look at this photo and remember how clean and open the corral was back then. You'll see another shot of it taken a few years later.

BOULDER MEADOW CONTRAST I've always been a fan of showing contrasts in everyday life, and this setting certainly ranks right up there.

LAGUNA MEADOW GRASS In college, one of my photo class assignments took me to the Water Gardens in Ft Worth (used in the movie Logan's Run). They have three main themes there -- a cascading water pool (the one in the movie), a pool where water runs in sheets down walls, and a pool with dozens of small fountains in it. This meadow looks exactly like the fountain pool.

SPIRIT DANCE While doing model shots at the Mariscal Mine, Lyn brought out a long sheet of cheesecloth and used it in various ways. This was the best of all the shots I took and one I still love. It was also the one I sold at the gallery opening for the workshop -- my first sold piece!

FALLING DOWN Down below the Mariscal Mine are these awesome adobe/rock houses that are in various states of decrepitation. This one was particularly appealing to me.

MASK IN REPOSE Again using the clear mask (one of my favorites; I must get one of these!), this time in a somewhat more surreal pose. This mask just has so much character.

GRAPEVINE HILLS This otherworldly landscape fit right in with the use of infrared film. This is one place in Big Bend I just can't get enough of.

SENOR CHRIS This is Chris Regas, a professional photographer from Dallas, sitting back and taking it easy -- in cognito. If you look hard enough, you can make out he's wearing a mask.

NINA AT WORK On this workshop, Rick -- the owner of the Photographic Center that put on the workshop -- brought along a professional photographer/videographer to fully document the workshop for future pre-workshop sessions, to give people an idea of what to expect.

ABANDONED HOUSE On the Photographic Center's photo workshop to Silverton, CO, we bumped over just about every Jeep trail in the San Juan Mountains from Ouray to Durango to Telluride. In just about every pass, there were ghosts of past habitations in various states of dilapidation. This old house -- which looked more like a hotel to me -- was actually in pretty good shape.

ABANDONED HOUSE INTERIOR Stepping inside, I was amazed at how clean it was. Usually, after decades of disuse, there is all kinds of detritus about. Not so here. I asked Rick about it and he said there was a group that was lobbying to try to keep the place up and as intact as possible, though no push for a complete restoration. Good job, guys.

ABANDONED BARN INTERIOR I believe this barn is in the same area as the house, but I'm just not sure anymore. I just love the light flecks shot all through the dark areas and the patterns they make.

CRACKED VIEW Always on the lookout for a beat-up, rusted-out old vehicle, I found this one sitting so forlorn. Great glasswork, huh?

EUREKA TREE STUMP We bounced over one of the mountain passes and down into the old mining community of Eureka, where there was not a single building standing; lots of foundations, but no buildings. I found this old, proud stump calling out to me and had to have it. It's familiar somehow . . .

EUREKA REMNANTS This is just about all that remains of Eureka, CO -- a few fence posts and a bunch of stumps standing in mute testament to the ravages of time and weather. I wonder what this place was like in its heyday?

POLLARD FAMILY GRAVESITE I didn't pay much if any attention to the names on the graves, but this particular one grabbed my attention immediately. I showed a print of it around at work when I got back and one of the guys said, "Hey, that's my great-grandfather's grave!" I puimped him for information about where it was and, sure enough, he described it perfectly. What a small world.

CHAINED GRAVESITE I just couldn't believe my luck when I ran across this one. Actually, I had to doctor up the chaining some, as some of the posts had fallen down, but I wanted the full effect. The infrared film really brought out the white plastic chain nicely.

INTO THE VALLEY This was such a pronounced and pleasant little valley, I just couldn't pass it up.

ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT LEIGH This is Leigh, my traveling buddy on this trip, looking for all the world like a giantess. A funny thing about this particular shot -- thanks to the infrared film, the lenses of her sunglasses actually came out clear. I had to take a black marker and fill them in to make them look right. This is the only time I've seen that happen, though. Amazing stuff, that infrared.

HOW MANY HORSES? How many horses can you find in this picture? (HINT: There are more than two.)

DON'T FENCE ME IN I was never too enthused about this particular shot, but I do love the "leggings" on the one horse.

NINE-BURN ROAD We had stopped on this high road for a look-see into the canyon below, so I thought I'd take a shot. As I was printing it out in the darkroom, I found it took nine passes in the enlarger to properly dodge and burn in the different areas to make an equally-exposed photo. Needless to say, there aren't too many editions of this photo around. This may be the only one.

SKIPPIN' STONES If my memory serves me right (sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't), this is the Mineral River and we're on a lunch break, which eventually developed into a stone-skipping contest. You can't tell it from this photo, of course, but the rocks lining the river on either side are a bright orange, probably from heavy levels of iron oxide in the water. That didn't stop us from shucking some clothing and taking a little dip in it, though -- a very little dip. That water was COLD! Here we see Leigh taking her best shot, either that or doing tai chi. I think she shows excellent form, either way.

THEY DROPPED THE BOMB!

DEUS EX MACHINA This is a piece of mining equipment, I believe, but I have no idea what it did. I was fascinated wth the design, though.

PICTURE, PLEASE! This is one of my favorite themes -- taking pictures of people taking pictures of people. In this case, I got a two-fer, as everybody wanted to have their picture taken with the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge train. (The mom in the foreground was really cute!)

DAGNABBIT! I have no idea what Rick is up to here, but just as I was about to take the picture, he started waving his arms around. Nobody likes a papparazo.

DAGNABBIT! I took a hand-tinting class at the Photographic Center, so I thought I would doctor up this particular shot, since it was of the owner, Rick. I found it's better to hand-tint photos of large things or, better yet, large photos of small things. It was lots of fun and I've always loved the smell of oils.

SKIPPIN' STONES You can tell these were early efforts, as the colors are very primary and unmixed. I was just trying to get a feel for the process and would work on the subtlety later -- or so I thought. I never did pursue it much further than these photos.

HORSES OF A DIFFERENT COLOR This was actually the very first attempt at hand-tinting photographs, as you can tell by the bleeding of color "outside the lines." I'd always thought this was a rather ho-hum photo, so I thought I would liven it up a bit. I think it worked

SAN FRANCISCO de ASIS MISSION CHURCH Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

SAN FRANCISCO de ASIS MISSION CHURCH Rancho de Taos, New Mexico This is by far the most viewed, painted, and photographed aspect of this wonderful structure. Even Georgia O'Keeffe painted this view, or close to it. The abstract geometry is unbelievable.

SAN FRANCISCO de ASIS MISSION CHURCH Rancho de Taos, New Mexico So I hung around and abstracted it even more, shooting totally with infrared film, even though it was drizzling rain. I can't believe it came out!!! What a lovely soft quality it has, which I don't believe would've happened with straight black-and-white film. I must get back to this place someday in the sunshine, though.

APPROACHING STORM I was heading back from the Colorado workshop, ambling my way through the New Mexico countryside, when I had what I call one of my "click" moments -- where you're just rolling along looking at the scenery and suddenly CLICK, your inner shutter release goes off. Wow! I immediately slammed on the brakes and backed up, jumping from the car with camera in hand to record what has become one of my most favorite shots ever.

SADDLED GUARDRAIL And here we are, back in New Mexico, this time on a workshop to Santa Fe. We'd stopped at a museum/gift shop/dive in the little town of Cerrillos -- famous as the town setting for Young Guns -- and I just couldn't resist this shot of saddles on the guardrail. After printing it out, though, I felt the sky was just too "hmm" for it, which lead to the next shot . . .

SADDLED GUARDRAIL WITH CLOUDS Taking a shot I did of a cloud-filled sky and doing a little dodging and burning, I managed to fill in the sky as it should look in New Mexico. My technique was a little rough, but this was basically just a test run. I never did go in and do a final print. I don't know why.

SITTIN' SPOT Around the back of the place I came upon this great shot of an eclectic arrangement of seating devices set against a post fence. There have been times I wished the truck hadn't been there, but then I think of how its shadow frames the seating area and I think it's okay.

NEW MEXICO WASH DAY Still wandering around the place, I ran across this clothesline with all these wonderful white clothes hanging on it just begging to be shot in infrared. And so, of course, I had to oblige them. Those are some pretty heavy-duty clothesline posts, wouldn't you say?

WILLA'S WALLS Our campsite for this workshop was on the property of Rick's friend, Paige, near St John's College in Santa Fe. On or near his property stands this ruin, a house that Willa Cather lived in while writing her book, Death Comes For The Archbishop. With a commanding view of the gorgeous New Mexico countryside from every window and door, I can see how she could be so inspired. This, of course, is the view of where her roof used to be.

IN WILLA'S WINDOW This is by far the best portrait I've ever taken in my life, as everything just falls into place -- the lighting, the angles, the glow of her garment, the wind in her hair, the clouds. Pam is sitting in the window of Willa Cather's house in Santa Fe.

AT SANTA ELENA CANYON Back on yet another Big Bend photo workshop. Here we are gazing in wonder at magical Santa Elena Canyon and its surroundings. I love the almost comical feel of this shot, as everyone is looking in different directions, possibly for Park Rangers. A group skinny-dipping session would soon ensue.