Photography is about painting with light. As in the art of painting with brushes and colours this may be done more or less naturalistically. In figurative painting some of the old masters used to give their pictures a slightly psychedelic or mystic touch without actually resorting to psychedelic or surrealistic forms. William Turner, of course, and especially Caspar David Friedrich come to mind. In some of the nearly monochrome paintings of the latter what might be called archetypal landscapes seem to become visible, shining through from a realm of pure ideas usually veiled from the human mind, but now speaking directly to the soul, bypassing reality. This impression was achieved mainly by playing with light effects that presented scenes in a slightly surreal way. In photography the use of infrared light is one technique to render familiar sights unfamiliar. The visible spectrum is shifted only so much… and immediately reality shines very differently…
