Rich Bergeman • VanDusen Botanical Garden

After making pictures for over 30 years with all manner of cameras and processes—from silver to platinum and Polaroid to pinhole—I'm now exploring the infrared spectrum. I love looking at the world through that hauntingly beautiful range of light. I’ve always preferred black-and-white for my work, in part because it takes me one step away from the everyday world of color. Infrared takes me a step further, transforming the ordinary into something else again. It can be a shocking transformation if I'm not careful, so I try to use it in a understated way, in quieter compositions where it plays a complementary role. The photograph shown here is from a series called “Invisible Gardens”--infrared images from parks, preserves and other cultivated spaces--“invisible” because the infrared spectrum is not visible to the naked eye.