Rain Hayes

Rain lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, where a huge variety of glorious landscapes beckon to her camera daily. Stunning redwood forests, rugged coastline, vineyard-lined valleys and gently rolling hills provide endless exploration and creative opportunities. As a native of the rugged and rural Trinity Alps in northern California, she developed a deep appreciation for the natural landscape at an early age. Nothing has ever suited her better than an all-day wander across the countryside, using her camera to compose a vision of the perfect world.

Rain began experimenting with infrared photography a few years ago. The first pictures she made were of the magnificent grounds of the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The photos had a ghostly, antique look: The serpentine lagoon appeared black and still; the weeping willow looked like a giant, pure white powder puff. The overall effect was mesmerizing, and she was hooked on the surreal, uncanny aesthetic. Rain wanted to make more pictures like this all day, every day, forever. Today, the infrared effect continues to captivate Rain. The medium allows her to develop her vision of soft, dreamy landscapes that suggest a slightly fantastical view of the world around us: real, but unreal. Using infrared photography to reveal the strange beauty that lies just outside our natural vision feels like a tremendous gift.