The story of infrared photography
Colours represent only the tiny fraction of the light spectrum which is visible to humans. Beyond this range of light, we can for example find ultraviolet rays that tan our skin on the beach, or microwaves that warm up our bento in the kitchen. Infrared light is another such kind of light, named for its frequencies approximating the visible red light.
Infrared was first discovered in 1800 by astronomer Sir William Herschel and is, for instance, emitted by natural heat of humans and animals. It was in the 1910 that physicist Robert W. Wood published the first infrared photograph, obtained through the development of a new kind of emulsion.
As detecting infrared allows us to see human bodies at night or in hidden environments, the US army quickly saw the potential of infrared photography and pursued these investigations during World War I. This first resulted in a black-and-white film sensitive to infrared, used in aerial reconnaissance during World War II. An improved and coloured version was developed by Kodak in the 1940s and named “Aerochrome”. With this film, vegetation appears red, making easier to detect leaf camouflage. It was extensively used even after World War II, for example during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
While there is no doubt about the importance of infrared photography for war purposes, it would be simplistic to say it was used only by the army. For instance, it was greatly reappropriated by the rock and psychedelic scenes in the 1960s, and used on album covers of Jimi Hendrix or Frank Zappa. More recently, since the 2020s, artist Richard Mosse has used infrared photography and the Aerochrome emulsion to denounce war by using its own tools.
With this photograph, I wanted to pay tribute to all the victims of wars, where infrared photography was used to find life before taking it. Here I chose to use a red filter to capture the photograph of a dead moth. In my view, it provides a more poetic image, where the body of the moth seems to be living and radiating heat again.
Cover image by Danilo Artigas