Unseen: Kentucky Fine Art Prints | Michael Kloth, MFA
Between 2006 and 2008, during my years in the Bluegrass region, I explored Kentucky's iconic landscapes and equestrian heritage through the transformative lens of infrared photography. This body of work captures wavelengths beyond human vision, revealing the hidden energy of the natural world and creating images that exist between documentation and dreamscape.
Infrared photography renders chlorophyll as brilliant white, transforming living trees into luminous sculptures while architectural elements and water maintain their earthy tones. The technique creates an otherworldly quality where familiar Kentucky landmarks - Keeneland's tree-lined approaches, historic farm architecture, cemetery monuments shrouded in morning mist - become meditations on light, memory, and place.
Images from this series were selected for exhibition in the Chancellor's Art Exhibition Series at Washington State University Tri-Cities in 2008 and 2009, recognizing their contribution to contemporary fine art photography and landscape interpretation.
The Collection
This curated selection represents the strongest compositions from my Kentucky period, each exploring the region's distinctive character through infrared capture. From the legendary grounds of Keeneland Race Course to historic tobacco warehouses, from pristine horse farms to quiet cemetery landscapes, these images document a place while transcending simple documentation.
The infrared spectrum reveals what conventional photography cannot - the electromagnetic signature of living things, the interplay of visible and invisible light, the transformation of ordinary scenes into visual poetry. Each image invites contemplation of how we see, what remains hidden, and the gap between perception and reality.
About These Prints
Every Plasticine Prehistoric print is made by me, in my studio, on a professional Epson 9900 large format printer using UltraChrome HDR pigment inks. This is the same class of equipment used by fine art print studios and museum reproduction departments. I make every decision about color, density, and output - the print is a continuation of the creative work, not a production step handed off to someone else.
Prints are produced on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, a 308gsm 100% cotton rag paper that appears in museum and gallery collections worldwide. Each print is made to order, hand-inspected, and signed before it ships.
Archival pigment inks and fine art paper ensure color stability and longevity exceeding 100 years under proper display conditions - which feels like a reasonable standard for creatures that already survived one extinction event.
Editions & Archival Quality
Each image is available in multiple sizes to serve collectors at different stages of their journey:
Open Edition Prints (5x7, 8x10) Archival giclée prints on premium lustre paper, offering museum-quality reproduction with exceptional color accuracy and longevity. The lustre finish provides subtle sheen that enhances infrared imagery's characteristic luminosity while minimizing glare. These accessible sizes invite collectors to begin their relationship with the work.
Limited Edition Prints (11x14, edition of 25) Printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag, the gold standard of fine art papers. This 308gsm, 100% cotton rag paper appears in museum collections worldwide and provides the archival permanence serious collectors demand. Each limited edition print is numbered and includes a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.
All prints are produced using archival pigment inks and giclée printing processes that ensure color stability and longevity exceeding 100 years under proper display conditions.
About the Artist
Michael Kloth holds an MFA from Academy of Art University and maintains the Certified Professional Photographer designation through Professional Photographers of America. His work appears in the TMC Foundation's permanent Healing Arts collection in Tucson, Arizona, where he has operated his photography practice since 2011.
The Kentucky Infrared Series represents an important early period in his artistic development, exploring technical mastery and conceptual approaches that continue to inform his current practice in pet photography and professional portraiture.
Technical Note
These images were captured using modified digital camera sensors that record near-infrared wavelengths (700-1200nm) alongside visible light. The technique requires specialized equipment and post-processing expertise, as infrared capture behaves fundamentally differently than conventional photography - white balance, focus, and exposure all shift when recording invisible light.
The result transforms landscape photography from documentation into revelation, showing viewers a world that exists alongside their own perception yet remains hidden to unaugmented vision.
Collecting Information
Pricing:
5x7 (Open Edition): $95
8x10 (Open Edition): $135
11x14 (Limited Edition of 25): $285
Shipping & Handling: All prints ship flat in protective packaging with insurance. Local Tucson-area delivery available for limited edition prints.
Care Instructions: Display away from direct sunlight and high humidity. Frame under UV-protective glass or acrylic for maximum longevity. While archival inks and papers ensure exceptional permanence, proper display conditions allow these works to be enjoyed for generations.
Questions about specific images, custom sizing, or framing options?
Whether you're interested in custom sizing, framing consultation, or selecting the perfect piece for your space, I'm here to help.
A cluster of deciduous trees stands enclosed within a curved black board fence at the crest of a gentle rise, the land falling away in both directions beneath them. The canopy fills the middle third of the frame, dense at center and thinning toward the outer trees, while the foreground grasses stretch smooth and pale toward the viewer and a turbulent sky occupies the upper half of the image. The fence describes a careful arc around the base of the trunks, its rails dark and precise against the luminous foliage above. Nothing else intrudes. The composition is spare without being empty, the trees and their enclosure positioned with the self-contained clarity of something both protected and displayed.
The fence is what the eye returns to. It does not contain the trees in any practical sense. These are not young plantings that need guarding, and there is no livestock visible in the frame. The fence is a declaration of intent: these trees matter, they are set apart, they belong to something. Whether that reading produces comfort or unease depends on what the viewer brings to it. The grove could be a sanctuary or a specimen. The care taken with its boundaries suggests both.
The infrared spectrum employed throughout this series captures wavelengths between visible light and thermal radiation, revealing a world that exists alongside our own perception yet remains hidden to unaugmented human vision. In this image, the familiar pastoral landscape of central Kentucky becomes something simultaneously more and less familiar: the rolling Bluegrass countryside rendered luminous, the sky given a weight and texture that visible light rarely produces. Each print represents not just a location but a revelation.
Museum-quality archival giclee print on premium fine art paper. Each print is individually produced and inspected to ensure accurate color reproduction and tonal range.
Available Sizes and Pricing
Open Edition: 5x7 inches - $125 8x10 inches - $175
Limited Edition (edition of 25, signed and numbered, certificate of authenticity included): 11x14 inches - $275
Custom sizes available by request for installation purposes.
Print Specifications
Paper: Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, 308gsm 100% cotton rag (Limited Edition Prints) Paper: Epson Premium Luster, 260gsm (Open Edition Prints) Process: Museum-quality giclée Printer: Epson 9900 large format, UltraChrome HDR pigment inks Production: Printed by the artist and individually inspected for color accuracy and quality Presentation: Unframed, ready for professional framing consultation
Framing Services
Professional framing consultation available through partnership with local fine art framers. Consultation fee applies; actual framing costs are determined by specifications and materials selected.
About This Series
Unseen: Kentucky was created in December 2007 in the central Bluegrass region of Kentucky, photographing the horse farms and pastoral landscapes that define that part of the state. The series uses infrared capture to render familiar countryside as something suspended between the seen and unseen, between the working landscape and something more interior. A print from the series, Ethereal Keeneland, is held in the TMC Foundation Healing Arts permanent collection in Tucson, Arizona.
About the Artist
Michael Kloth, MFA, CPP. Work held in TMC Foundation permanent collection. Member, Professional Photographers of America and American Society of Media Photographers.