There’s a wonderful intimacy that comes with black and white photography. With only the composition, light and tones of gray to tell its story, a black and white image can capture the essence of the image in a way that colour cannot. In fact, there is a wonderful expression that I use to help explain the beauty of the black and white image:
“Colour captures the story in an image; black and white captures its soul.” I’m not sure who wrote this quote originally (maybe Ansel Adams?). To me, it is eloquent and accurate.
Because the majority of my work is used for multiple purposes, I shoot everything in colour. I then interpret the image and convert it with a black and white treatment in post production. Converting a digital color photo into black and white goes beyond simply desaturating the colours. A colour image can be made to mimic any of a wide range of looks created by using color filters in black and white film photography.
A lot of my photojournalism work, whether its weddings or family lifestyle shoots, can be interpreted in different ways. For this reason, I do all the post production work on my images myself. As the photographer it’s a complete circle for me as opposed to having another digital artist interpret the image. Conversion which does not take into account an image’s color and subject of interest can dilute the artistic message, and may create an image which appears washed out or lacks tonal range.
A week ago I photographed Diane, her son Zack, and their bloodhound / mastiff mix dog, Trigger. I took them to High Park on a Saturday morning. Diane really wanted something that captured the personality and dynamic of her family. I spoke with her in advance about what was important to her, and also gave her my advice as a photographer. When Saturday morning rolled around, we were ready to go.
After hanging out for a bit, I casually started shooting to get them comfortable with my big camera covering my face while I was speaking with them. I used a combination of available light and flash. I ended up with a large selection of images. I’m looking forward to creating some big, custom prints and gallery wraps of the images.
I’ve presented a couple of images here, both in their colour and b/w versions for you to view. What do you think of them?
Until next time, be well.
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