What Inspires You to Make Photographs?

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

Photographers get inspiration for their work from many places. One of my friends finds it in old world master’s paintings; I get inspired by new things: It can be a new camera, new lens, or just a new place to make images.

Recently it was a new lens—the Lumix G Vario 12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH. I’ve been inspired by some of the images that my friend Mark Toal has been making with this compact lens and on Sunday I took a walk around Bingham Lake with the lens mounted on my Panasonic Lumix G5 that had been converted to infrared-only operation my LifePixel.

I was out to test two things: First and most important was the new lens but also the assertion I made in a post here about exploring what Infrared images look like when the deciduous trees had no leaves.

First if all, I love the lens. The focal length range and especially that 12mm (24mm equivalent) is perfect for infrared capture. (I’ve always believed that wide-angle lenses are great for IR capture.) It’s not perfect, though and depending on where the sun is it can be flare-prone and while I was able to block the sun from reflecting of the front element, sometime I also photographed my hand. (duh!) Sometimes you can make the flare work for you, although that depends on how you feel about that kind of effect. I just ordered a third-party lens hood from Amazon and will give you an update on how well it works—or doesn’t work.

Secondly, Winter IR photography can be fun creating everything from the moonlit effects that my friend Vincent Versace seems to like creating right now.

The bottom line for me is that it was fun and I look forward to photographing cars with it. And hope to see you at the informal Valentines Day automobile PhotoWalk in Parker, Colorado next month.