An Infrared Fantasy by Caroline Jackson

Caroline Jackson bought her first camera 10 years ago, and has seldom set it aside. She never settled on a particular genre, and normally takes a mindfulness approach to creating images. Her photographs are not made with intention – such as documentary work – but on free flowing feeling. Always drawn to the range of human experience, and usually a darker, lonely or edgy mood, her images feature themes of alienation, separation and exclusion and can encompass street scenes, lonely desert landscape, crumbling structures; scenes that convey isolation and being cast aside. Being drawn to the outlier segments of society, her pictures are usually not “pretty.” The goal is always to have the viewer pause, feel, listen and question their relationship to a subject, emotion or idea. Caroline’s primary presentation has always been monochrome – without the distracting element of color – the subject and composition takes center stage. 3 years ago, Caroline decided to convert a digital camera by having its hot filter removed and replaced with a filter that allows some infrared light to reach the sensor – light not within our visible spectrum. This genre of shooting accentuates her usual lonely and edgy scenes. Working with this light the human eye cannot see lends a sense of distortion to her photographs. They appear “different,” and  at times other worldly.The infrared medium gives a new spin on familiar subject matter, a portal to a new or strange vision. Much of Caroline’s work has a shrouded, depressed, or gritty feel. With infrared, there is a different take created on cliche subject matter. Infrared photography has a learning curve, like any genre. An out of the camera RAW file is a jumbled red image, essentially unusable. She shoots with a custom white balance, and utilized a DNG profile in Adobe Camera RAW, to allow the images to be edited. Swaps of color channels are done, to bring out the infrared spectrum of color, and eventually most images are converted to monochrome for a haunting appearance.

Caroline V. Jackson is an attorney from the San Francisco Bay Area, now making her home in Fresno. Infrared takes her photography to the realm of noir. She is affiliated with Spectrum Gallery in Fresno. Her work has been shown at various exhibitions in the Central Valley.

Spectrum Art Gallery’s New Hours of Operation:
ArtHop (1st) Thursdays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Fridays: 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Saturdays and Sundays: 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM