Graham Hobart answers your Questions

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I have developed a technique of manipulating the way light, composition and detail work together to create images that have all the grit and character of a drawing or an old victorian lithograph.

This nostalgic look in my work is meant to take your imagination back to a time when artists ventured out into the far reaches of the unknown world and returned with fantastic etchings and photographic lithographs that described the wondrous beauty of breathtaking landscapes, strange plants, exotic species and unfamiliar cultures. 

It is my hope that that this feeling will inspire you to do something about the decline of the natural world and reverse the current march to self-destruction.

All my work is captured within the Infrared Spectrum. A big advantage of this is that foliage takes on a dream-like appearance because infrared sees green as white.  And because infrared sees dark blue as almost black skies can sometimes look quite dramatic. Ultimately it is the interpretation of what is essentially a rather dull and bland original image that needs lots of work to render an outcome that has the look and feel of art rather than special-effects photography.

There are many differences between the way in which you photograph in infrared vs visible light.

• The camera requires a lot more light to get an image
• Focusing with an optical viewfinder is extremely difficult
• Everything takes a long time to set up
• Processing the final image is very interpretive and slow

Together these limitations compound and result in most of the images rendered unusable. But as you can see sometimes it all comes together beautifully.