History of IR photography-First IR photo

[JohnK]

I'm reading a 1941 biography of the American physicist, James M. Wood. While pursuing one of his interests, spectral analysis, he made the first photographs with ultraviolet light, and (which may be of interest to some here at STF) made the first photographs with infrared radiation. On a visit to Scicily in 1911, he made the first infrared landscape photos, in the vicinity of Syracusa. I've reproduced one of these, below. The biographer also gives this bit of tantalizing info, "They stayed at the Hotel Politi in Syracuse, perched on the brink of the deep quarries of Latomia... In these quarries Wood made some striking infrared photographs." I'd love to see those, but they are not reproduced in the book. The author says they were exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Royal Photographic Society and published later in the Illustrated London News. I wonder if anyone knows how to track those photos down. There has been much written on the history of photography, but the IR photography niche is not often discussed. I post this because, as with many others here, I enjoy IR photography and I like to know about the context of our work.



--
JohnK
I like to see what things look like photographed.

 

[Frank Lemire]

I'm reading a 1941 biography of the American physicist, James M.
Wood.

 

[JohnK]

I'm reading a 1941 biography of the American physicist, Robert W.
Wood.

 

[JohnK]

While reading the biography of professor Wood, the first IR photographer, I learned that he wrote a popular textbook on physical optics, so I got a copy (1934), and in it is another of his rearly IR photos, this one from 1909, titled Foliage and Blue-Sky Photographed by Infrared Rays.

I'm reading a 1941 biography of the American physicist, James M.
Wood. While pursuing one of his interests, spectral analysis, he
made the first photographs with ultraviolet light, and (which may
be of interest to some here at STF) made the first photographs with
infrared radiation. On a visit to Scicily in 1911, he made the
first infrared landscape photos, in the vicinity of Syracusa. I've
reproduced one of these, below. The biographer also gives this bit
of tantalizing info, "They stayed at the Hotel Politi in Syracuse,
perched on the brink of the deep quarries of Latomia... In these
quarries Wood made some striking infrared photographs." I'd love to
see those, but they are not reproduced in the book. The author says
they were exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Royal
Photographic Society and published later in the Illustrated London
News. I wonder if anyone knows how to track those photos down.
There has been much written on the history of photography, but the
IR photography niche is not often discussed. I post this because,
as with many others here, I enjoy IR photography and I like to know
about the context of our work.



--
JohnK
I like to see what things look like photographed.

--
JohnK
I like to see what things look like photographed.

 

[BBess1]

So where did you get these books JohnK?

I assume not at amazon or the usual borders or barnes and noble.
What filters did he use? How did he measure stuff like nanometers?

Today its all done for us. We either go to B&H or ask one of the IR gurus on the forum like yourself. Did he invent IR sensitive film?? or was it already sensitive and he "discovered" it?

Don't know if I'd ever have gotten into IR photography with film. Digital is so easy!

thanks for a reply
Bob

• • I follow the light - -

 

[JohnK]

Hi, BBess1, to answer your questions: I got these books from online used book dealers, through alibris.com. In "Physical Optics" Wood describes the second photo I posted as being "made (in 1909) through a ray filter consisting of a tank of dense cobalt glass filled with a solution of bichromate of potash, transmitting the spectrum region between 6900 and 7400." I'm still reading the book, and don't yet know how he measured nanometers. But he does go on to say that now (1934) aniline stained gelatin filters are obtainable from Eastman Kodak. He did not invent IR sensitive film, but he was the first to intentionally make IR photographs. From a one sentence reference in the biography of Prof Wood I got the impression that the existing photo materials were inherently sensitive to IR and visible light, and that he was the first to photograph by holding visble light back, but more work needs to be done in this area. I don't know if I'd have gotten into IR photography if I had to drag around a dense cobalt glass tank filled with bichromate of potash... This pic was taken from a kayak in a lake, hate to have that tank of bichromate of potash in the kayak, too.

So where did you get these books JohnK?

I assume not at amazon or the usual borders or barnes and noble.
What filters did he use? How did he measure stuff like nanometers?

Today its all done for us. We either go to B&H or ask one of the IR
gurus on the forum like yourself. Did he invent IR sensitive film??
or was it already sensitive and he "discovered" it?

Don't know if I'd ever have gotten into IR photography with film.
Digital is so easy!

thanks for a reply
Bob

• • I follow the light - -

--
JohnK
I like to see what things look like photographed.

 

[Stewart Marston]

I don't know if I'd have gotten into IR photography if I had to drag
around a dense cobalt glass tank filled with bichromate of
potash... This pic was taken from a kayak in a lake, hate to have
that tank of bichromate of potash in the kayak, too.

And he probably wouldn't have wanted to drag around a laptop during family vacation just to off-load photos.

It's all relative, I suppose. Some things we would never consider insane.

We photog's do what we must to get the image we want. Whether it's rolling out of bed before sunrise, or tromping in the snow at night, hanging precariously from a cliff, entering abandoned buildings.. you get the picture (pun intended). I'm sure he had his own limits as to what was insane to get "The Perfect" photo.

Now.. where's my medication....
hehe
--
Stewart Marston
DSC-F717, DSC-S50, Promaster 5750DX, LumiQuest Softbox