Infrared photography is very cool, very hip, these days. Lots of photographers are experimenting with the genre. Tim A. Fleming's new show at Spectrum Gallery is a good way to get a grip on the technique.

When you shoot in an infrared format, scenes can turn out weird and otherworldly. Foliage appears white and water looks black. The whole scene is infused with an ethereal glow.

For August ArtHop, I started off with Fleming's exhibition at Spectrum. It's an impressive show. Fleming is more of a "purist" when it comes to infrared photography than those shooters who merely try to act the effect with the help of Photoshop. Fleming, who uses a specialized 4x5 digital camera designed for such work, uses a special filter. It's a complicated process that actually involves using the camera like a "scanner" -- rapidly photographing one "line" at a time of a scene -- that necessitates a lengthy exposure.

The longer you look at an infrared photo, the stranger it can seem. In his "Indian Beach," (pictured), your eye goes first to the white sand, which at first glance seems normal enough. But then it becomes clear that this is a slightly alternate universe. The plants in the foreground are icy white, as if they've been dusted with snow. The water seems a murky gray. The cloudy has sort of a surly whiteness to it. And when you look at the tiny little figures of people on the beach, they seem almost transluscent. (They reminded me of the "shades" in the afterworld that you read about it in ancient Greek literature.)

Infrared also has some specific advantages over the visible-light spectrum. Using the technique cuts through the haze. In a photograph of Yosemite's Half Dome, Fleming waited until a cloud floated behind the top of the famous peak -- and if you look closely, you can even see the tiny figures of people standing up there. Using conventional photography, you'd never be able to see that clearly. It's as if you've been given a pair of bifocals. It's very interesting.

Fleming, in an email, talks about the show:

To celebrate my 40 years in photography, I have put together 3 bodies of work for your enjoyment. All three Themes are new and exciting and probably unlike anything you've seen before.

First, "The Infrared Landscape". It is part, Fine art B&W Large format photography in the tradition of Ansel Adams, combined with Infrared photography using a part of the light spectrum not visible to the human Eye, and captured with a Super high resolution digital scanning camera, and lastly Printed by me on the best digital printer I have ever worked with. I am pleased to say that fine art B&W digital printing has now equaled (or maybe surpassed) any form of darkroom printing.

Second, Panorama photography: the wide format images seem to pull you in, almost as if you become part of the image as it saturates your field of view. The color panoramas are printed on canvas and are stretched like paintings. One Giant B&W panorama is created using Infrared photography.

Third, "Flip 'n Fold, A Photographic Journey to Rorschach": A selection of organic and geometric shapes that have been cut in half and folded over or flipped. Most of the images were abstract to begin with and then, with this process, they are pushed beyond abstract. The image created at the intersection of the two or more images, stimulate the imagination into seeing things that are not really there. It's fun to experience because everyone sees something different. For this exhibition the flip n Fold images have been framed in an eclectic selection of antique and ornate frames chosen to enhance the personality of the image and then hung as a combined group or "installation" to take you on a fun lesson into how you see the world.

Also on my ArtHop tour: I stopped by Glen Delpit's snazzy new digs on Van Ness right across from Bill Bruce's studio. It's a pleasant space, and it's great news for Bruce, who for years has acted as sort of a cultural outpost on the north end of downtown. Roger Perry has moved in next door to Delpit with a recording studio, and he'll be showing an artist there once a month along with having local musicians play.

With Arte Americas just up the street, the Fresno Met heading toward reopening and Broadway Studios just three blocks away, there's a real potential in this area for ArtHop vibrancy to take hold. Especially if crowds from the Mono Street section of Van Ness make the trip up the street.

Other visits: I stopped by Mimi Mott-Smith's interesting show at Fig Tree Gallery. She is showing, as she describes it, new work on the theme of air and water in the Central Valley, looking at the fragility of our water supply and the presence of air pollution as a feature of our landscape. It's an interesting show with a strong, almost seething minimalist sense to it. Speaking of otherworldly landscapes, think of what human habitation can do to our environment.