Templeton Tree (Infrared). I’ve visited – and conversed with – this rugged, twisted, barely alive juniper countless times while hiking the switchbacks above Oak Creek on the Templeton Trail. And I’ve photographed it plenty of those times, always with an infrared camera. But it never stops giving me something new to capture.

On this summer morning, not too long after sunrise, the light was soft and directional, and Oak Creek Canyon’s foliage down below looked like a sea of flames. Not to my eyes, of course, but the camera was happy to show us what it saw.

Tech info: Nikon D3200 camera (modified for infrared with 590nm filter), Nikon 8-15mm fisheye lens at 10mm, 1/200 sec. at f/11, ISO 200. The image was processed to mimic the look of Kodak’s long-discontinued Aerochrome infrared color film.

Image ©2024 James D. Peterson