Black and white? but last week you said  look for colour. colour that is there , colour that isnt there! colour that could be there!  Now you are taking away my colour and making it boring old black and white? Why? why? WHY?

 

Hmm, hold on, let me explain. while it is true, i am a self professed colourophile (yes i just made that word up) there is a reason to see in black and white. im not going to go into why in any detail. that would become a lesson, and thats not what i want to do here.

Most people treat B&W as the territory of either fine artists or serious journalists, and while i do agree that making photos in B&W do give things a much more serious or artistic look, that shouldn't be the only reason to shoot them. On the rare occasions that i do make B&W photographs its because i want to challenge myself to see my subjects a little differently.

When people look at the world in colour we tend to ignore the constant play if light and shadow and how it affects what we see and how we perceive what we are looking at. For a very long time photographers had no other option but to make photos in B&W. so they had to look at what they where photographing and somehow convey to the people looking at the final picture, all the colours and subtle grades in tone that were there.

The best part about B&W pictures is that you can see textures, texture makes up so much of what we see that we seldom think about it. Next time you are out looking at things, try taking away all the colour and seeing what is there with just light, shadow and texture.

 

no one home
 

twilight swim

 

personal coffee

 

 yes i broke my own rule and photographed some powerlines. so sue me

 

approaching storm

 

ok, so i broke my powerlines rule twice.

 

building detail

 

Solitary flower

 

rusted tin roofs in horizontal

 

windy afternoon

 

sunset
 

busy?