You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Black and White is dead”.
This journal discusses photography in all its guises with an emphasis on the art of making photographs.
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Black and White is dead”.
Posted in Photographs, Photography
Thomas
I may agree with you that B&W is not the only form of Art and great color photography is much tougher to ‘do’, thus being more admirable when it’s achieved. Like your South Beach photo which reminds me of Saul Leiter’s work (cfr. Early Color, ed. Steidl), perhaps because of the old Kodachrome feel of the blues. Still, it’s a shame that you decided to deprive yourself of the good services of LensWork. After all, there can be great stuff in B&W, too! And thanks to digital, controlling B&W output has become much less frustrating and therefore more productive than it has ever been. Not all B&W is automatically Art of course, nor all photography should necessarily be Art in the first place. But it’s not our fault if most of the masters have chosen B&W as their medium of choice, even way after color became the default choice for casual photographers. I’m not talking about the masters of Art only, I’m also talking about the masters of photojournalism. Color is most times distracting noise, extra information that detracts from the essence of an image (esp. if you’re talking about people). When not distracting, it’s most times when the whole image is essentially monochrome (like your South Beac above); not by chance perhaps. So, long live B&W and long live color! There’s room for both. Just keep the pretentious people away, whichever their medium!
Best regards and thanks for your blogging.
Giovanni
Hi Thomas!
What’s up with the comments? Every entry of yours recently is ‘no comment’, but I suspect your loyal followers (me included daily) are commenting indeed (not daily I hope). Just very busy on other fronts, I guess. Hope all is well with you, and regards,
Giovanni
Giovanni –
I don’t know what’s up with Comments – I went from getting a lot, including spam, to none, and I tend to approve everything, as long as it’s constructive.
I suspect that one contributing reason is that I frequently state strong opinions which do not rest easily with the implicit mass market status quo. Add the fact that I accept no advertising and, consequently, have no axe to grind for any manufacturer or product, and you end up with a poor prescription for high traffic.
No problem. Far better to have a few questioning readers than the zealots who would have you believe that film is the only art medium for photography, etc., etc.
Thank you for your good wishes, and the best to you.
Thomas
Thomas,
thanks for your reply. You do state clear opinions, and that’s what’s good about coming back to your blog on a regular basis. What first got me to your blog was your Ur-Leica Lumix approach (hey you actually convinced me to go for one), but I’m staying because of your fresh thoughts and images. If I were a brand zealot (never used Canon in my life etc etc) I would not be here.
I’m not a film zealot either, simply because time spent in the darkroom is time stolen from the real world (and wife, a bit like golfing). Have done a bit of B&W film + scanning, lately, but it’s so time consuming that the only point of it is to keep using loved equipment. Can’t sell it, sorry, not my Nikon FM bought in 1978 which introduced me to photography—still using it, something I doubt we’ll say in 2037 about equipment bought in 2007. I don’t know how you ever got around to sellling yours; but then again I am one of those that will never sell/donate/throw books he’s read.
Best again,
Giovanni