Marieke / Field Report

Notes on progression so far:

I have recently identified a problem and a contradiction in my work: Using a method like infrared (scientific objective method) to portray the unconscious. But I do think that this struggle / potential impossibility could make an interesting research question. What does this unconscious mean to me?

The first thing that comes up are memories and experiences that make up the mind, which the brain organises. I am interested in this in a scientific sense but at the same time also from the perspective of empathy; it is a concern that is with me all the time.

I could call it the part of our existence that is not physical. In the past people would have used the word spiritual. This is also connected to atomistic philosophy which states the interconnectedness of people and things.

I keep contradicting myself in my research but I am okay with constructing sort of an thesis followed by an antithesis.

Primary emotions that we are not aware of mainly in relation to fear is also an important motivation for my interest in the unconscious.

Whether I am dissolving or destructing images or capturing them in infrared, there is an underlying theme of decay, vulnerability, exposure and destruction in relation to the process and the subject. When an image becomes actually red like in my digital infrared images, there is a fleshy way of exposing the environment, as if the skin has been exposed, (the image is the body). While experimenting directly with the image of a face or body means you do something to it, this makes the connection less static. Infrared is of course in its history closely tied to war, migration, security and violence. It is a way to detect the stranger and enemy.

Ironically I was at first-hand attracted to infrared because I felt it would bring me closer to the subject (people). Because I would be able to look at them in a different exposed state. When I did the infrared photography I could not even see my subject through the viewfinder because of the dark filter. This was the case with both the analogue and digital camera. So a lot of the documentation is connected to chance. This is a very different experience to the traditional approach of finding 'the enemy' with infrared techniques.

Artists like Francis Bacon and Richard Mosse are equally important to me even if they might seem quite different in their approach; both speak of violence and decay. During the Image Analysis people saw the underlying violence in my photo. This has happened before in the past with my work and I don’t always notice it myself.

The emotion of fear might be deeply engrained in my work and this might be why I am so attracted to infrared techniques. It is a feeling that is prominent, so people notice these motives of damage and fear. This can make the viewer uncomfortable and create a push-pull effect. They look away and look back again.

Because of my choice to work with infrared techniques I have to deal quite a lot with physics and science. Before I only considered the poetic parts of photography but I learned to appreciate this other part now.

Image Analysis, Richard Mosse in Black and White

- Black and White
- High contrast
- Eyes look in distance he's seen a lot
- Gun
- Military
- Maria with baby
- Leaves are like backdrop
- Pose so perfect composed
- Is he posing or did the photographer find them like this?
- Not sure if the background was manipulated into the picture
- Sad
- Baby is huge contrast to soldier
- Baby seems at peace with eyes closed
- Soldier is protecting
- They sit on a rock
- Nature setting
- I think the man is not old
- Defeat
- Why is he wearing his gun while holding a baby in a setting like this?
- Danger
- Small moment of rest
- The connection between soldier and baby is protective, moves me.
- Partially moves me because the soldier must have been through so much, what awaits the baby?
- Leaves seem so light, artificial
- Soldier is dark, baby is lighter (lighting)
- Sharp shadows
- Documentation
- He is a real soldier
- Stone where they sit on has composed angles
- Congo
- Contrast between real and posed
- Timeless
- Baby still naive soldier opposite
- Baby has light clothes like a blank canvas
- Wrinkles and texture in both of their clothes
- What has the soldier seen and experienced?
- Soldier doesn't seem to have been protected at all except with gun and army wear, but that is just a defense against violence and war never protected in the 1st place.
- Grief
- Leaves seem like a collage.
- Clear layers in picture because of backdrop
- He holds the baby gentle
- Man is covered in shadows, baby in light
- Gun is only thing with no soft organic shape
- Gun has hard texture
- Gun is the only thing with angled shapes and completely dark/black

Infrared Photography

- Infrared photography falls under the near infrared spectrum.
- Wavelengths are 700 nm to 900 nm.

Nanometer: Nanometers are used to measure the smallest things, usually those the size of an atom or molecule. This term is used in the context of miniature computing devices such as integrated circuits (IC) and transistors embedded within a processor.

- Infrared light lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared light has a range of wavelengths, just like visible light has wavelengths that range from red light to violet. Near infrared light is closest in wavelength to visible light and far infrared is closer to the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The longer, far infrared wavelengths are about the size of a pin head and the shorter, near infrared ones are the size of cells, or are microscopic.

Electromagnetic spectrum: The range of frequencies (the spectrum) of electromagnetic radiation and their respective wavelengths and photon energies.

Focusing infrared

- Manual focus SIR lenses have a red dot, line or diamond, often with a red R called the infrared index mark, this is used for proper infrared focus; many autofocus lenses no longer have this mark.

- When a SLR camera is fitted with a filter that is opaque to visible light, the reflex system becomes useless for both framing and focusing, one must compose the picture without the filter and then attach the filter.

- A sharp infrared picture can be done with a tripod, a narrow aperture (like f/8) and a slow shutter speed without focus compensation, however wider apertures like f/2.0 can produce sharp photos only if the lens is refocused to the infrared index mark, and only if this index mark is the correct one for the filter and film in use. It should be noted that diffraction effects inside a camera are greater at infrared wavelengths so that stopping down the lens too far may actually reduce sharpness.

Diffraction: Is a physics concept. Diffraction occurs when waves bend around small obstacles, or when waves spread out after they pass through small openings. Diffraction occurs with all waves, including sound waves, water waves, and electro magnetic waves such as light that the eye can see. Diffraction also occurs with matter such as electrons.

Apochromat(ic) lens (APO): Is a photographic or other lens that has better correction of chromatic and spherical aberration than the much more common achromat lenses.

- APO lenses do not have an infrared index mark, they do not need to be refocused for the infrared spectrum because they are already optically corrected into the near-infrared spectrum.

Catadioptric lens: Mirror optical lens that has refraction and reflection combined into one optical system, normally obtained by using dioptrics (lenses) and catoptrics (curved mirrors).

- Catadioptric lenses often don't require this adjustment because their mirror containing elements do not suffer from chromatic aberration and so the overall aberration is comparably less. These lenses do of course still contain lenses, and these still have a dispersive property.

- Zoom lenses may scatter more light through their more complicated optical systems than prime lenses, that is lenses of fixed focal length; for example an infrared photo taken with a 50 mm prime lens may look more contrasty than the same image taken at 50 mm with a 28-80 zoom.

- Some lens manufacturers such as Leica never put IR index mark on their lenses. The reason is that any index mark is only valid for one particular IR filter and film combination, and may lead to user error. Even when using lenses with index marks, focus testing is advisable as there may be a large difference between the index mark and the subject plane.

Film cameras

- Many conventional cameras can be used for infrared photography, where infrared is taken to mean light of a wavelength only slightly longer than of visible light. Photography of longer wavelengths is normally termed thermography and requires a special equipment.

- Some cameras of the 1990s that used 35 mm film have infrared sprocket-hole sensors that can fog infrared film. Other film cameras are not completely opaque to infrared light.

Black and White Infrared film