The week in black and white
Some weeks demand black and white…
This week I found myself thinking about black and white photography and how it imbues emotion and intention often more powerfully than colour.
Some beautiful quotes about the art of black and white from those who know best, beginning with one that echoes my thoughts this week:
"I think it’s because it was an emotional and difficult time for me that I preferred to work in black and white. The colours were too vivid for my feelings." – Robert Mapplethorpe
To see in colour is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul." – Andri Cauldwell
"When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!" – Ted Grant
"Black and white are the colours of photography. To me, they symbolise the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected." – Robert Frank
"Colour is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive." – Eliott Erwitt
What about you?
Black and white or colour?
"When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!" – Ted Grant. What a great quote. While I like to photograph nature because of its color, I often feel more drawn to B&W photos of people than to color photos.
I really love looking at black and white .. but myself struggle to see without colour .. yes sometimes a black and white composition is more obvious (deep contrasts, slivers of light) … but seeing the more subtle black and white images in the field passes me by …