The Tenth Muse

                    Infrared Rose

Way back in ancient times, or what my kids might thing of as ancient times, well, before they were born anyway, I took photographs with infrared film, specifically black and white negative film (although I did shoot some infrared slide film, but this isn't about that). It was a bit of a process because of a couple of things: the film speed was slow, you had to shoot through a filter (dark red is the one I used to use), and once you had focused on your subject or scene you had to compensate for the shift to infrared. Also you had to load and unload your camera in absolute darkness which also could be a pain. The images were different too, in a day and age when many people were (and still are) striving to create the clearest, the sharpest of images possible, infrared introduced the subtle distortion of grain.I could look up all the pertinent data, the exact specifications and numbers and settings and what developers were recommended to process the film (I liked HC110) but it doesn't really matter, it's what you did to take the pictures and to print them, it was all part of the craft of photography.

                                      The Pond Mills Bridge, London, Ontario

But the results were magic.

                                        Creeping Charlie and the Old Clarinet

I always felt that there was a bit of magic to photography, maybe a bit less so in this digital day and age (or just a different sort of magic, the kind that deals with computers and programs that allow you to manipulate images), but magic none the less, and particularly in the case of infrared film and the resulting prints. There is an extra element here because you were, and I mean I was, never a hundred percent sure what the final image was going to come out looking like. Oh you had an idea, that's for sure, but the tenth muse always put in an appearance. The name of that muse is serendipity.

                                            Cloud and Tree, Toronto, Ontario 

I came to love the muse and the things she showed me, particularly when she was in one of her playful moods, when she did something special with the light. Here I've picked just a few examples for you that I hope you'll enjoy.

                                                        Country Cemetery

I still plan to play with infrared photography in this digital age (you can see an example in an earlier posting) but it isn't quite the same and it's taking me longer to come to terms with the muse's requirements. Still, it's part of the journey, isn't it.

Places I remember

Photograph entitled "Winter Beetles" by Colin Campbell


There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain

In My Life - the Beatles

One of the things I like about photography is that it can capture, in an instant, certain elements of a place and time. That's what the medium does. The photographer chooses a position from which to record the scene visually, sets up (or leaves set) the camera's controls, trips the shutter and an image is recorded. Sometimes the setup is a bit more complicated but that's basically it. When the image is converted, either through what these days seems the ancient and almost mystical (alchemical?) chemical processes that produce slides or negatives and prints (which I used to do for fun and profit), or converted into pixels that may be viewed on a monitor or screen, hopefully you take in information and you get some feeling from the image. Of course what is seen is experienced differently by different viewers.

It's interesting for me that sometimes too the image becomes the trigger for the memory of the place. The photograph included here is one of those examples. If I had to hazard a guess I would say that this image was shot something like 30 years ago. The place, the wrecker's yard and the Volkswagon graveyard you see before you, is long gone. The shot was taken just north of Toronto, Ontario, on the outskirts (then) of the city of Barrie. I still think the image holds up well. I can still remember bits and pieces of the day and of the site and thinking about how to try to get the exposure just right. Snow isn't always easy to record.

I always have liked to take photographs that have an element of humour or that are visually striking in some way. I think this is both.