The Artist’s Lens: Capturing the World in the Visible and Infrared

Abstract:

We go about our daily lives with our primary sensory input in the visible spectrum. This is but only one of the many available spectra that artists and scientists alike can use to capture and analyze how the world works. Each artist’s creative voice comes from individual experiences and their philosophy on how to portray the world around us. Adding infrared technology to the artist’s toolkit creates a new opportunity to glimpse into our world through a different set of lenses. By using both the subjective artist’s-eye and the critical scientist’s mind, we gain unique yet complementary viewpoints when we observe the same physical processes. Using digital SLR and thermal imaging cameras, we will capture still imagery and high-definition videos, at multiple frames per second. We will present examples, such as heat loss in cold environments over time, analyses of different rock structures, and the significance of emissivity on infrared measurements. We will show how these two spectra, the visible and infrared, together provide a novel outreach tool to visualize artistic and scientific principles. Our aim is to cultivate the interest of students of all ages in the arts and geophysical sciences and allow us all to learn more about the world in which we live.