Black and White

Sometimes colour doesn’t work in a picture. Not every time is this explainable. Mostly it is the photograph that tells you if this is what it wants? Is that possible or do I sound crazy there?

Sometimes it is this older, vintage nature of the capture. Sometimes it is the absolute charcoal blackness of the shadows and the depth that it brings; other times it brings a sheer and visceral documentary feeling to the image. It makes an image more serious or at least to some viewers, it makes it worth staring at and considering more? They search for deeper meaning in its monotone.

As I have found recently, however, some blacks are not always black and whites not white. Sepia sometimes can be overdone and used heavy handedly…so a picture looks like it is from the old west or from the very first time a camera made it into tribal locations. In playing with tones, it isn’t really my intention to do any of this. If that is what it brings you and it works, then I am happy. Still I find there is a “rustiness” or a “hay” quality that adds to the texture of a photo.

I alter days where I think in black and white and this sometimes helps me frame a shot. Yet my aim here is to capture not just the picture but the smells, sounds and touch of the place - like putting it in your pocket and taking it home.