BIO: Hi. I live in Los Angeles, CA, a concrete jungle made up of intertwining, sprawling suburban neighborhoods. To me, it offers little photographic possibilities. I prefer places that offer the peace and solitude seldom found in and around LA. Currently, I have a Nikon D2X that I use as my workhorse camera, a Nikon D300 as a backup camera, and I converted the Canon POWERSHOT Pro 1 as my dedicated IR camera.

Photography has been my BIG hobby for most of my life, and my favorite photographic spots are in the American Southwest. The desert offers a plentitude of natural beauty everywhere you look, from wildflowers to monsoonal thunderstorms to candy-striped rock formations. Outside of my affection for wide scenic landscapes, wildlife, macro and aviation photography, I was looking for new pictorial ideas. My girlfriend suggested looking into infrared photography. At first, I used the Hoya R72 filter, making adjustments to the white balance to convert an image to IR. All of a sudden, this new world view opened up to me. Simply the way the grass blades and trees glow with that bright white yet soft light, the way lakes and ponds transform into stark black mirrors, and the way the sky becomes this sharp, dark counterpoint to a landscape is to appreciate Mother Nature’s grandeur on a higher level. The overall composition goes from just a good color image to a magical, ethereal one—an entirely new photograph altogether! That sealed it. I bought a Canon P&S based on recommendations and had it converted to a dedicated IR camera, and the rest, as they say, is history!