Infralucent Clouds

The scientist in me gets very excited to discover something new, never seen before, and not easily explained, either.

What I found is that imaging the night sky with an infrared camera emphasizes some features. The most intriguing part are those very thin, light clouds in the atmosphere, which one cannot see with the naked eye or a regular camera.

These clouds are delicate waves of what is likely ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. Transparent to visible light, but reflecting Earth’s infrared radiation, which only an infrared camera can see, and only at night.

With reference to noctilucent clouds (which we can only observe in particular locations at a specific time of night), I named these infralucent clouds, because they shine only in infrared light and at night. They add a wispy fabric to fill the otherwise empty night sky to create otherworldly views.

With this collection of images I want to share that ethereal sight and enable people to see infralucent clouds in their full beauty, creating awareness that there are many things we do not perceive, cannot easily explain, but that are real and ever present. -JL

About Jürgen Lobert

Jürgen Lobert is a Massachusetts-based fine art photographer and educator, born and raised in Germany. He received a Ph.D. in atmospheric chemistry from Gutenberg University in Mainz before moving to the US in 1991.

Jürgen is fortunate to have a daytime job, so he got to specialize mostly in night photography, but he also creates daytime long exposures, urban exploration and infrared imagery.

Jürgen’s work has appeared in numerous group shows and he has also organized, curated and exhibited in others. Among those exhibits are the Night Becomes Us at the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury MA. His artwork is in the permanent collection of the Art Complex Museum, and in private collections.

Jürgen organizes over forty photo excursions and workshops each year. He is an international lecturer, instructor and competition judge. He has taught photography at the New England School of Photography (NESOP) and currently at the Griffin Museum of Photography.

Jürgen is an executive member of the Boston Camera Club, member of Stony Brook Camera Club and the founder and organizer of the Greater Boston Night Photographers Meetup group.

CV
Exhibitions
Solo & Featured Exhibits

• Griffin Museum of Photography @ WinCAM, Winchester, MA, Infralucent Clouds, January 2022.
• Hingham Library, MA. Ethereal Night Sky, 2014.
• Photographic Resource Center, Cambridge, MA. Night Sight, a curated, digital presentation of four photographers 2012.

Exhibitions as Organizer, Curator & Exhibitor

• Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA. Group exhibit Night Becomes Us, 2016- 2017.
  90 night photographs from 12 artists.
• Front Street Gallery, Scituate, MA. Group exhibit Night Vision, Scituate, MA, 2018.
• Front Street Gallery, Scituate, MA. Group exhibit Luminous City, Scituate, MA, 2015.
• Mashpee Library, MA. Group exhibit The World at Night, 2015.

Juried Group Exhibitions

• Duxbury Art Association, MA. Winter Juried Show, 2021.
• Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN. After Dark, 2020.
• Duxbury Art Association, MA. Winter Juried Show, 2020.
• Plymouth Center for the Arts, MA. The Fine Art of Photography, 2018.
• Plymouth Center for the Arts, MA. The Fine Art of Photography, 2017.
• Providence Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI. Unseen, 2017.
• Darkroom Gallery, Burlington, VT. Optics Illusioned, 2016.
• Plymouth Center for the Arts, MA. Art of Show, 2016.
• Plymouth Center for the Arts, MA. The Fine Art of Photography, 2014.
• Visionspace Gallery, Lynn, MA. Night Light, 2013.
• Front Street Gallery, Scituate, MA. New England Night Photographers, 2013.

Other Group Exhibitions

• • Photographic Resource Center, Cambridge, MA. Your Work Here, November 2021.
  • Boston Camera Club, Boston Seaport, MA. The Focused Eye – Our Unique Views, a public banner installation, 2021.
  • Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA. Winter Solstice, 2019.
  • New England School of Photography, Waltham, MA, through the Boston Camera Club. Light & Shadow, 2018.
  • New England School of Photography, Waltham, MA. Staff Representation, 2017.
  • Boston Camera Club at the Wellesley Library, MA. Abstract, 2015.
  • Center for Arts, Natick, MA. Boston Camera Club, 2012.

Ongoing Bodies of Work

• The World at Night, a diverse portfolio of night photography and its sub-genres.
• Infralucent Clouds, a collection of stratospheric clouds invisible to the human eye.
• Moody Architecture, a collection of daytime long exposures about serene views in busy cities.
• Industrial Beauty, a collection to show the glamorous character of industrial installations at night.
• The Orb Sphere, a collection of light drawings at night.
• Trichroic Impressions, a colorful collection of long exposures to visualize motion.
• Black Light, a collection of studio light drawings.
• Down in the Dungeon, a collection of dark, abandoned, underground spaces.
• Gravelscapes, a collection of otherworldly quarry scenes.
• Moon Streaks, a collection of very long exposures to show moon rises and sets in one image.
• Uplifting, a collection of night time photos featuring bucket lifts.

Collections

• The collection of the Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA.
• Private collectors throughout the USA.

Publications

• Ongoing Photography blog.
• Ongoing Patreon photography channel.
• Reflector and Reflections newsletters, Boston and Stony Brook Camera Clubs’ newsletters, occasional article and photo contributions.

Bibliography

• Full page photo and text spread, Country Gazette newspaper, Vol. 35, No. 33, p. B1, 10-April-2020.
• Artist’s profile in fifty plus advocate, Eastern edition, Vol 46. No 5, p 4-6,  May 2020.
• Page spread about Night Becomes Us exhibit, Duxbury Clipper newspaper, p. 12, March 22, 2017.
• Featured photo Blood Moon over Point Judith, in: Night Photography and Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark by Lance Keimig, p. 93, 2^nd edition, 2016.
• Article about the artist and Night Becomes Us exhibit, South Shore Living Magazine, p. 24, October 2016.
• Live presentation & published video, of Jürgen and the GBNight Meetup group, Common Cod Fiber Guild, Ignite Craft: Boston, January 2015.

Related Experience

• About 40 technical publications for atmospheric chemistry and contamination control, incl. Nature and Science magazines.
• A 30-year record of public presentations on scientific and photography topics with audiences up to 250.

Teaching Experience

• Griffin Museum of Photography, 2021 to present.
• Greater Boston Night Photographers Meetup, 2013 to -present.
• New England School of Photography, 2017 to 2019.
• International camera clubs and regional photography conferences, 2013 to present.
• Registered speaker and photo judge at the New England Camera Club Council.

Education

• Ph.D. in Chemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany, 1990.
• Masters in Nuclear Chemistry, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany, 1985.
• CAPA National Judging Course, Canadian Association for Photographic Art, Boston, MA, 2012.
• Workshop “Introduction to Night Photography”, New England School of Photography,
  Boston, MA, 2011.

Languages

• Fluent in written and spoken German (native language).
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

Professional Affiliations

• Owner, JM Lobert Photography LLC
• Founder and organizer, Greater Boston Night Photographers Meetup (2013-present).
• Member, Boston Camera Club, Brookline, MA (2010-present).
• Co-organizer of the New England Night Photographers Meetup (2012-2013).
• Memberships
  • Professional Photographers of America (PPA; 2014-present).
  • Photographic Society of America (PSA; 2016-present).
  • Stony Brook Camera Club (2016-present). Griffin Museum of Photography (2017-present).
  • Photographic Resource Center, MA (PRC; 2011-12, 2021-present).

View Jürgen Lobert’s website.