What Creativity Means

I’ve been thinking that Creativity really means that you let your mind go. Let it spin. Close your eyes and wonder where can you go next. You try something new and find out if it works. You give yourself freedom to experiment. It comes from having time to reflect and the guts to try a new path. Selectively, you embrace some rules and discard others.

With Infrared Photography, the new path I’ve chosen, I continue to embrace the rules that define strong composition, but I throw away the rules that tie photography to the way things truly look to the eye. Realistic color goes out the window. Green trees can be white…or yellow…or gold…or magenta. Just like they can be any color in a painting. But you say, “This is photography, and photography is realistic, journalistic, a witness to truth.” I say, “Before we had color photography, we had black and white photography, which was not true to life. It was and is widely accepted as an art form.” Right?

In that spirit, I present my latest Infrared Photograph: “Isle de Jaune.” I love this image for reasons I’m not sure I can explain in words. It is one of my favorite images of the past year. The complimentary colors and composition work for me. Are you with me?

Infrared photography at the Naples Botanical Garden. “Isle de Jaune,” combines complimentary colors and a balanced composition with interest in the sky and the lake. I find the image peaceful and meditative.

If you are interested in a Fine Art print or even better — a metal print of this image, please visit my website and place an order online. Thanks for joining me on my creative journey.

The Beach Walk

After a month-long visit with the grandchildren, it’s time to get back to the photography, and I began yesterday with a midday walk on the beach. The sky was clear and blue, and the sunlight was strong — perfect conditions for Infrared Photography.

I like the way the sun gives the palms and the sky this nice contrast. I chose to process this “super color” image with the palms rendered in a golden yellow, even though they look green to the eye and with the rest of the image in high contrast black and white.

Mansion on the beach in Pelican Bay, Naples, Florida, rendered in “Super Color” Infrared with a Sony camera converted to Infrared by lifepixel.com.

I enjoy experimenting with Infrared Photography, because it’s a new way of looking at the world around us.

Rich vs Poor at Versailles

Standing in the security line at Versailles, I noticed the fresh gold leaf on the  ornate gates to the Palace. My mind wandered to the history of the Sun King, Louis XIV who built most of the Palace and the angry and hungry French revolutionaries who stormed the Palace, attempting to capture and kill the monarchs.

And how history repeats itself. The current Yellow Vest protesters in Paris argue that the rich need to aide the poor. Then, in America we have a “man bites dog” situation where the wealthy president fights to build a wall to keep out the poor. Poor vs rich, rich vs poor.

Then, I come back to the present where I stand in line and admire the gates for the outstanding piece of historic artistry they are. In this view, perspective lines up the gates in opposition to the palatial architecture behind them. Admire the iconography: see the “Sun king” represented? I’m grateful that the French government of the 20 and 21 century has restored these gates for all of us to admire and appreciate and to reflect upon history.

Fresh gold leaf adorns the gates of the Palace of Versailles built by Louis XIV before the 18c. French Revolution.