BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY
It always seems to me as if black and white images were from ages ago. Maybe that is because of my introduction to photography in an era of doing my own black and white film developing and printing in darkrooms.
That was 60 years ago! I don’t photograph in black and white anymore. I just convert today’s color images into black and white thanks to the digital age and the lack of my need to use a darkroom anymore. Black and white images bring up a different emotional response within me whether they are my own images or those of the traditional and well respected masters we see in museums and galleries. They promoted a body of images that make it hard to believe that a society existed in color at that time.
The science of the eye is fascinating when we consider that the millions of rods on the surface of the retina perceive images in black and white and that the millions of cones on each of the rods send color information to the brain.
I have also learned over time that in an emergency (such as the need to avoid being hit by a car) and a need for fact action, the eye sends information to the brain in black and white without the need for the specifics of color information in order to react faster.
Still, I find myself able and eager to post some of my images in black and white in order to support and promote the memory of the history of black and white photography.
A SERIES OF “NOUNS” IN BLACK AND WHITE
