La Noir Image
Month
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I felt an intrinsic link to black and white photography from a young age, stemming from an exhibition of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work that appeared in Edinburgh’s Gallery of Modern Art. Like so many others, I was drawn to the aesthetic he created and how his use of monochrome allowed the viewer to focus on tiny details within the image, or the purely human element, without distraction.
There’s a transgressive quality to a gritty, contrasty black and white shot that colour cannot match. Indeed, in a colourful and vibrant world, reducing an image or scene back to monochrome can tell a much more blunt yet textural story. A Thai street food market, a Scottish arts festival or a busy Parisian neighbourhood can all be drawn into sharp focus through black and white photography, without the potential for unnecessary clutter within the image. Simultaneously, it’s unforgiving and requires composition skills to be on-point otherwise the end result can look like nothing interesting at all.
What makes Black and White photography so important to you?
Black and white photography is important to me because it helps create a timeless image. It is also a tremendous way to capture emotion and create a dramatic photo. I love how you can accentuate lighting and shadows using black and white as well. I believe that color only distracts from the emotions captured in a persons eyes and expression. To me B&W helps draw the viewer in and feel what the person in the image is feeling at the time. There is nothing more powerful than evoking emotion in someone through an image that I’ve created.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white is important to my music photography because of the ever-changing, uncontrollable and intense stage lighting conditions at concert venues. You don’t know what to expect from concert to concert. It’s exciting and fun, yet challenging and unpredictable. Venues are generally dark. When there is light, you often have to battle with red, blue and green spotlights that cause loss of detail in your photographs. The solution for much of my concert photography has been shooting in black and white.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I view the world from a spiritual perspective. All that I “see” is an illusion, a reflection of my inner life, whether I am conscious or unconscious of all that makes up my inner being. Black and white is important to me because it simplifies the illusion for the moment captured, strips it down to light and dark allowing me to feel and explore those shades of gray after the moment has passed.…
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black&White makes photos look special. I guess most of photographers of any kind will agree that what we’re trying to do with our work is makereality look more interesting than it really is.Black&White is great for that. It’s important for me because in spite of my fascination for colors that constitutes more than half of my work now, I still thinkb&w photographs are simply stronger.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
I love the drama of black and white images, and how they bring a different feeling to the story. There is an amazing quality of timeless in black and white photography. Shapes and shadows, lines and textures. Black and white focuses your attention on the subject and interaction within the frame. I loved shooting with Polaroid positive/negative film. Making the exposure and waiting for those precious seconds to expire, before you could pull back the positive, and swipe it with the clear coating stick, then turn your attention to preserving the negative. Photography has always been for me a labor of curiosity and passion.
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Black and white is important to me because of how it makes me work and think. It strips away all other elements, leaving me to work with what matters most: composition and subject. To me, those two qualities are vital to creating memorable, powerful photographs.…
What makes black and white photography so important to you?
Well, as someone who works with light – I see the everyday world in colour, the trees the sign posts the buses, everything is bright and bold. Everything competes for attention – the world can be a visually confusing place. These days creating black and white images can provide a little bit of simple in a complex world. Black and White has that – ‘artistic’ feel that seems to provide a more character based image. People look for the story rather than the 'real world’ caught on paper.