I Love Black & White, So Put Another Roll in the Camera, Baby.
Editing images of winter, and especially of mountains and snow, I’m always more drawn to the black and white interpretations of a scene.
Why is that?
Why is black and white photography so impactful?
I don’t know for sure.
But I have my suspicions.
You see, black and white (b/w) imagery strips away the bullshit.
Not that colour is bullshit, but for the purposes of my argument, today, it is (forgive me).
It used to be the norm, back in the early film days.
Black and white photography was all there was.
No colour.
Today, it’s the opposite.
Colour (often too much of it) is everywhere, and it often is distracting from the essence of an image.
Which in turn makes b/w imagery something out of the ordinary.
You don’t see it as often.
So that’s one reason why it’s impactful.
It’s rare.
And when colour is not present in an image, it forces us to look at other aspects of it.
The shapes.
The textures.
The deepness of the shadows.
The brightness of the highlights.
How they interact with one another.
Also importantly and intriguingly, how the image makes you, the viewer, feel.
It’s impactful stuff.
The image above was made on a recent ski tour, and I just love the feeling of “being on a journey” it evokes (might be different for you).
The lack of colour enhances this.
By removing it from the image, we are automatically forced (unknowingly) to take in the scene in a completely different way.
We connect with it more deeply without the distraction of colour.
I really like it.
What about you?
That’s my two scents on (some) of the reasons why b/w images are so impactful, and why I like making them.
Your thoughts on the matter?
Simply hit reply and let me know / comment below.
PS - Yes, I was paraphrasing the lyrics from Joan Jet’s famous “I love rock ‘n roll” song in the title.
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Until next time ✌🏽.
Cornelius
Last week’s blog / newsletter:
Creative Composition in Photography (Keeping it Simple).
What is creative composition? Quite simply put, it is photographing something in a way that one wouldn’t normally expect. Take the image of the cloud, or part of the cloud, above, for example. If I just wanted to share with you tha…
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For me, removing colour from an image removes reality while adding emotion, feeling and a concise perspective.