An opening reception will be held June 14, from 4-6 pm at the Sturgess Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. Come and meet the photographers and their families, learn more about what they shoot, ask them questions about their work, and enjoy the camaraderie of friends.
"Seeing the Invisible"- Julie Stauffer
Our eyes see only a limited spectrum of light waves, but an infrared camera captures what we cannot see. With this camera, I capture the invisible light waves emitted especially by photosynthesizing shrubs and trees during their growing season. The result is an ethereal, mysterious and snow-like image that defies reality because everything is green but now looks otherwise.
Initially I used infrared film for these images, but when that film was discontinued, I replaced it with a dedicated digital infrared camera. The element of surprise is captivating and exciting since I never quite know how much invisible light the camera will record when I press the shutter. The light is different; the composition becomes black and white, not the colors that I am seeing.
I started shooting infrared a few years ago in a small mountain lake town in an effort to photograph the scenery from a different perspective. The process has continued to fascinate me so that I carry an infrared camera with me to all professional jobs and personal projects. The images in this current show were taken in 2008 near Charleston, NC, and Savannah, GA. The foliage was abundant, the ruins fascinating, the cypress swamp eerie and exquisite. The large oak tree is on the NC Nature Center property.
“Vernal Flowering” Spring 2009 - Elyse Shapiro
I’ve always been fascinated by the differences between how the camera and the eye “see”.
In this series “Vernal Flowering” the lenses unique monoscopic vision, as well as the abbreviated tonal range act to flatten space, creating a scene not quite the way we saw it…but perhaps the way we remember it.
