Infrared photo exhibit shows world we can’t see

You may have seen a lot of the things portrayed in Joe del Tufo’s exhibit in the Mezzanine Gallery at the Carvel Office Building in Wilmington.

But not like this.

The Arden photographer has shot the 31 photos in “Spirit of Eden: Nemours” in infrared, a spectrum of light just beyond the range we humans can see, and the effect is spectacular. Blue skies brighten up everything else, which shows in shades of blue, white and gray.

The technique turns a bighorn sheep in Cody, Wyoming, into a magnificent marble-like statue, and stately trees into color-stripped forests that somehow seem alien. The statue of an angel becomes an avenging warrior rather than a peaceful manifestation of love.

del Tufo got into infrared work about 10 years ago. He had really admired some old black and white infrared shots from the West.

“My interest in it was purely visceral,” del Tufo says. “I liked the way it made me feel when I saw it. When I first started shooting color infrared, it was even more so – like the were parallel worlds that existed right in front of us, just outside of our visual wavelength. Of course, that's basically the fact of it.”

He tweaks his camera sensor to only give the sky color, pushing the blue a tiny bit toward green so the look would be consistent from shot to shot.

He’s been photographing the gardens of Nemours Mansion on and off for the last five years, and the exhibit largely, but not exclusively, consists of shots from that former du Pont estate that’s now held in trust by the same foundation that runs A.I. Dupont Hospital for Children. A.I. built the house for his wife as a copy of Marie Antoinette’s petit trianon at Versailles. It’s surrounded by French formal gardens enveloped by forested land.

“Of the places I've photographed in Delaware, Nemours is to me the best hybrid and man-made and natural beauty,” del Tufo says. “I discover new things every time I shoot there, in infrared, color or just my eyes.”

The exhibits includes other photos, too, including spots around Delaware and some from Wyoming and Georgia.

His photos win raves from those who love them, like British vistual artist and filmmaker David McKean, a friend of del Tufo’s since del Tufo began working with graphics. Among the things McKean is known for is drawing Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comics covers. The Delaware man really liked McKean’s style. They met at a graphics event more than a decade ago.

“People trust photography to tell them the truth, but you learn so much about the world when photography is allowed to lie a little in order to show you the world in a startlingly different and revealing way,” McKean says in a blurb for a book that del Tufo is working on. “del Tufo’s crystalline ice world really is around us, revealed by another mysterious natural force, chemistry. Life is just very strange, here's the proof.”

del Tufo, 48, got into photography about 18 years ago, when his daughter Alex was born. He had just helped found the Wilmington design firm Mobius with Matt Urban and Barry Crell, and all the websites they were working on needed photos.

“Everything needed to be photographed, so I bought the first Apple digital camera, before they came with phones, and went from there,” del Tufo says. “Alex was my first victim; she's easily been photographed 10,000 times.”

He’s self-taught, but feels lucky to have been surrounded my amazing teachers.

“I like it because it helps me feel connected to things, helps me notice and take interest in things I otherwise would have looked past,” del Tufo says. “I like the conversations that come out during shoots – there's a certain vulnerability that comes from being photographed that tends to bring out a deeper, truer conversation. I like sharing beauty, especially when people don't see it in themselves.

“I also like that it is a craft that can never be mastered. There are so many kinds of photography that I have not touched that I'd love to try in the future. And virtually every photo could be better if one of the million variables shifted. But I try not to think about that.”

He left Mobius at the end of last year to found another company, Moonloop Photography with Jim Coarse, a wedding photographer.

“I wanted to pursue photography,” he says. “And I knew that if I waited any longer that would become a challenge ... But in order to grow I knew I needed to push myself, immerse myself in the work and see what I could do.”

The first seven months has been more challenging than he expected.

“I am very busy, but I am often very busy with the business and networking,” he says.

He’s been doing wedding more frequently than he expected. He’s still looking for his first infrared wedding, although he did some infrared bride photos.

He’s selling his current infrared camera to buy one which more resolution so he can make bigger prints. The prints at this exhibit max out at 24 inches by 36 inches, and he’s like to print larger.

del Tufo disagrees with critics who say people with cell phones spend so much time taking photos at events and uploading them on social media that they don’t really enjoy the event.

“I feel the opposite,” he says. “I really have a lot of problems just attending concerts and events without a camera. My mind wanders and I start to imagine some of the shots I'd be getting if I had my camera in hand. Because the camera focuses me, it also brings me closer to what I am experiencing. And when I look at a photo a decade later, it all flows back through me as a story.”

But he does think too many people think it’s so easy to take photos with a phone camera that photography and great photos are simple.

“To master it you have to work on it like any other craft,” he says. “I believe my work now is better than it was two years ago and much better than 10. I hope that is always the case.

“And I do think there are elements of photography that are innate, just like any talent.”

Contact Betsy Price at (302) 324-2884 or beprice@delawareonline.com.

If you go

WHAT: “Spirit of Eden: Nemours.” photographs by Joe del Tufo

WHERE: Mezzanine Gallery in the Carvel State Office Building, 820 N. French St., Wilmington

WHEN: Through April 29. Open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

ADMISSION: Free