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Tag: Surreal Landscape

  • Mount Dana in Infrared Silence

    Mount Dana in Infrared Silence

    Captured just off Tioga Road (Highway 120) near the eastern edge of Yosemite National Park, this surreal infrared image reveals the towering granite face of Mount Dana rising above a calm, high-country pond. Shot with an infrared-converted camera, the scene transforms into a luminous dreamscape—where pine trees glow with snow-like brilliance and the sky turns to velvet black, intensifying the drama of this alpine wilderness.

    The pond in the foreground, likely a meltwater pool near Dana Meadows, mirrors the light and textures with quiet clarity. At over 13,000 feet, Mount Dana looms like a sentinel of the Sierra Nevada, its rugged form contrasting with the delicate detail of the illuminated foliage below.

    This photograph is part of an ongoing exploration of Yosemite’s lesser-traveled high country, using infrared light to uncover the hidden energy and ethereal beauty that lies just beyond the visible spectrum. A moment of calm. A monument of stone. A place where time and light speak a different language.

  • Alien Lovers

    Alien Lovers

    While road-tripping through Utah, I made a spontaneous stop at Goblin Valley State Park—an otherworldly landscape filled with wind-sculpted hoodoos that resemble creatures from another planet. The park’s name is well earned; it feels like stepping into a Martian playground carved by time and weather.

    As I wandered through the maze of rock formations, this particular pair of “goblins” caught my eye. There was something oddly tender about the way they leaned into each other—like a couple caught in an eternal embrace, frozen in stone. It felt both intimate and alien, and I knew I had to capture it.

    I photographed the scene using my Nikon D2X, modified for infrared photography. The resulting black-and-white image brings out the texture and contrast in the stone, stripping away color and enhancing the surreal mood of the moment. With the high desert light and infrared effect, the surface almost glows, giving these sandstone figures an eerie, ghostlike presence.

    To me, this shot tells a quiet story of connection in an unlikely place—a pair of stone lovers standing side by side in the heart of Utah’s alien terrai

  • Constellation Park Sepia

    Constellation Park Sepia

    Captured just outside Sedona, Arizona in Constellation Park, this surreal landscape was photographed using a modified Hasselblad X1D for infrared photography. In this ethereal infrared image, the rugged rock formations glow with otherworldly warmth, while the foliage below—normally rich desert greens—takes on ghostly, cool tones of blue and silver. Above it all, high-altitude cirrus clouds stretch dramatically across a deepened sky, their motion frozen in time like brushstrokes on a vast canvas.

    Infrared photography reveals what the eye cannot see, and in this case, it transforms the Arizona desert into something almost lunar—familiar in form yet alien in mood. The quiet strength of the rocks, combined with the swirling sky and spectral trees, evokes a dreamlike quality that feels more myth than memory.

  • Solitary Sentinel – Joshua Tree in Infrared

    Solitary Sentinel – Joshua Tree in Infrared

    Captured in the heart of Joshua Tree National Park, this surreal image transforms the desert landscape into something otherworldly. Using a Nikon D800 converted for infrared photography, I was able to reveal the stark beauty of the desert in an entirely new light.

    The Joshua Tree, a symbol of resilience and wild elegance, stands alone against a backdrop of gently rolling hills and a nearly black sky—an effect created by the deep infrared spectrum. The spiky foliage glows with an ethereal, icy tone, while the texture of the bark and desert scrub becomes hyper-detailed, giving the scene an almost alien quality.

    Infrared photography at Joshua Tree offers a dramatic reinterpretation of the familiar. Where the sun-bleached sand and blue skies typically dominate, the infrared view emphasizes contrast and mood, stripping away color to reveal form, light, and shadow in their purest expressions.

    This image, for me, captures not just a moment in the Mojave—but the essence of isolation, strength, and beauty in one of America’s most unique landscapes.

  • The Long Road – Monument Valley in Infrared

    The Long Road – Monument Valley in Infrared

    Shot with a Nikon D2X converted for infrared photography, this image captures the legendary view from Forrest Gump Point on Highway 163—where endless road meets timeless landscape. This stretch between Monument Valley and Mexican Hat, Utah, is etched in cinematic history as the spot where Forrest Gump famously stopped running, with the buttes of Monument Valley standing solemn in the distance.

    In the infrared spectrum, the familiar transforms. The asphalt shimmers with alien intensity, while the desert terrain turns ghostly white, and the sky deepens into a void of stark black. Monument Valley’s towering sandstone formations rise like silent sentinels from another world, frozen in time and shadow.

    The composition—perfectly centered on the broken white line—pulls the viewer down the road into the surreal horizon, symbolizing both a journey through the American West and a passage through visual imagination.

    This isn’t just a photograph of a place made famous by Hollywood—it’s a reimagining of an icon, filtered through the lens of infrared light and a camera that still holds up in a digital world driven by megapixels.

  • Timeless Light – Trinity Park in Infrared

    Timeless Light – Trinity Park in Infrared

    This majestic tree in Fort Worth’s Trinity Park took on an entirely new personality through the lens of my infrared camera. Shot in black and white infrared, the chlorophyll-rich leaves reflect infrared light, turning the canopy into a glowing cloud of white, like nature’s own sculpture against a brooding sky.

    Infrared photography allows us to see a world that exists just beyond human sight — a parallel landscape filled with unexpected tones and textures. In this case, it transformed a familiar Texas park into a dreamlike realm. The soft shimmer of the tree’s foliage contrasts beautifully with the dark grass and moody clouds, creating a composition that feels suspended in time.

    The empty benches and curving path add a quiet narrative — a peaceful pause, an invitation to sit and ponder beneath the shade of this spectral giant.

    Captured in Trinity Park, Fort Worth — one of my favorite urban green spaces — this image reminds me of how photography can reveal magic in the ordinary.