Happy Fall ~ and some more of the UP

~~~ Which means.
Winter is coming.
The Brothers Odd are getting prepared.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The last stop of the first day of our whirlwind Tour was a place called Brunette Park, Michigan. At first glance it didn't look very special at all. Sandy beach, winds, waves, blowing sand, beautiful skies, and sunshine.

We walked east along the shoreline towards the trees and something began to change. There were Rock outcroppings to walk on instead of sand.

I decided this was a brilliant spot to break out my Infrared once more and use the Chrome Filter.

When we got to the rocky shore, I photographed the rocks we were walking on. To me, they were nature's works of art. If I didn't know they were rocks that I was walking on, I'd have thought they were abstract art.

I commented to Em that I'd love to have the shot below in large print on my wall. 

What looks like raised veins of white is sand that had been deposited on the rocks by waves.

We spent a lot of time here just sitting and watching the waves. The sounds of the water were so calming to me.

If allowed, I would have found a dry spot and just fallen asleep.

I did look up and my son was out playing in the water. It looked as if he was literally walking on water which I mentioned when he came back.

To which he quipped, "Oh of course! You doubted me?"

We all laughed. 

Just before we headed back to the car, I looked behind me at the pines. They were covered in some of the most intriguing Lichen I'd ever seen.

They were so beautiful and intricate.

Yeah, the kids thought I was a little funny getting excited over something like this.

But there I was, touching it and  admiring it with a beautiful lake and red rocks behind me.

Well, that is me. I like the odd things. I'd go back just to take more photos of the Lichen.

And this Lichen had a common name:

Old Man's Beard!

How cool is that?

We all slapped as much sand as we could off our feet and Jer announced that this ended our first Tour Day.

We had to go to Houghton and grab something to eat and head to the Hotel 3 hours away and get some rest before the next big day.

I'd planned on finding a spot at night along the lake shore and filming the Milky Way.

Guess who was too exhausted to think about getting up and going hiking in the middle of the night???

Yup. We all slept until just before dawn.

And we had quite the adventure come Sunday morning.

Yeah. I'm gonna leave you hanging.

Some Infrared Photography

 Of all the paths you take in life,

make sure some of them are dirt...

John Muir

I love all sorts of photography. Some people can play instruments, some people can sing. Others can draw or paint.

I enjoy the power of the camera's creativity. I started exploring Infrared years ago when I got a filter and stuck it on my camera.

At that time I had no idea what I was doing. The filter made everything so dark and off color. The 720nm filter I purchased created super long exposures with a black and pinkish tint to everything. I soon learned that the way to go Infrared was to have a camera modified.

I found a place where they sold a used pocket camera that was modified. I figured it wouldn't be overly expensive and I could try it out.

For the first several weeks that I had the camera, I carried it everywhere turning it on just to look at the back screen and enjoy the view of seeing everything in a different light spectrum. I didn't understand how it worked really, but it was fascinating to see green turn to white in the camera. Or greens turn blue and skies turn orange.

The Infrared works best on very sunny days with foliage. These are the times when a regular camera in our visible light spectrum doesn't work as well. Suddenly I found myself taking the pocket IR camera everywhere and trying it out on everything I could find.

I admit, shooting in a different light spectrum can be very challenging. The photos come out with a strange color to them. The photographer can choose to edit the photo or leave the strange colors in. No matter what, the photos become an experiment in magical, mystical, and artistic formats.

My first Canon ELPH shots were of everything and anything around the farm.

The grass looked like snow, the sky had some incredible depth to it. 

I read that IR photography was popular only in the spring and summer. Yet I found that I could have fun with it in the winter.
What was a boring mid afternoon photo turned into something a bit different.

Eventually I took my old Olympus camera and had it converted to 'Full Spectrum'. That meant I could use different filters for Infrared on the lens.

The most amazing thing about infrared and its different light spectrums is that sky details are more intense. The shot above was taken in the winter. The trees and some of the dead plants had a tint to them. The spectrum of light picked up clouds I could not see with the naked eye.

Last year, I sort of left my IR camera at home and didn't pick it up very much. I was really focusing on toy photography and macro photography. Besides, with our drought, everything was so dull and uninteresting.

Then this past week, the weather proved remarkable. 

Another foggy morning with sunbeams shining through the light fog. 

A storm approaching...

This was when we had a severe storm warning, with possible gusty winds and hail coming in with the front.

The last shot was done inside on a rainy day. I took a photo of a red geranium. I lit up the geranium with an Infrared Flashlight and got this beautiful ghostly blue tinted flower portrait.

Infrared Photography to me is an outlet for creative art. 
Watch out...I'm finding my groove again in IR.