Photos

Taken near the Point Alpha museum on the former border between Rasdorf, Hessen, West Germany, and Geisa, Thuringen, East Germany. Not seen here, but present at the original border, are the Russian soldiers, DDR border guards, attack dogs, and land mines that were employed to make sure no East Germans escaped into the West.

Point Alpha was a US-manned observation post in the Fulda Gap, a natural avenue of approach that NATO planners believed would carry the main thrust of a Soviet armored advance into West Germany. In order to keep from losing its population to the West, the DDR (East Germany) fortified the border and declared it off-limits to its citizens. This Russian-language vehicle barricade warns East Germans to stop prior to reaching the border area.

This is a color infrared photo taken with my IR-converted Rebel XT. The "hot mirror" that normally blocks IR and UV light from reaching the sensor has been replaced with an IR-pass filter, so the camera now captures images into the infrared spectrum at a speed comparable to normal daylight photos. The color effect is reached by setting a custom white balance, then adjusting the levels and saturation to achieve a sepia tone.