The Black and White Difference

It is no secret that I love black and white photography. There was something about it that drew me in and would not let me go. When I first stopped and said “WOW this is a really good photo” I had no idea why it was so good but I felt it was good. This started a quest, a quest to find the answer to my years of questioning, why is black and white so much better.

So lets start at the beginning. At the start of photography all the grains of salt could produce was black and white and everyone went “WOW that is a really good....... what do you call that?”. No one had seen anything like this – you mean I stand there you hide behind that box and in no time at all my image was on paper (glass plate actually). This was the begin of the end for the human senses. We (like I was there) started expecting more and more from this new visual medium, better black and white, faster black and white, more black and white. Then came color, that was it, no turning back now. The chant turned into better color, faster color, more color. All at the same time there were advances in radio, TV, newspaper, communications and of course cars. All these factors contributed to the dulling of our senses, we are no longer content with looking out the window or talking to others face to face. We need to watch TV or talk on the phone – no wait we hardly do that any more – text instead of talk. We need to be on the computer and chat or play a HD video game with someone in the next town, state or country. The things we, as a people, used to do before technological advances kept our senses sharp and uncomplicated. Today we are bombarded with every type of man made stimulation from just about everywhere so we expect to be over stimulated at every turn. This makes black and white photography captivating.

What the hell are you talking about.... Well when a person looses a sense the other senses become heightened, for example a blind person can hear things most people simply dismiss. They can here a key in the door or the leather in your shoe rub, these sounds will be interpreted far differently by a blind person then a person with all there senses. Try this, watch TV without the sound on.... when I do this I pay much more attention to what people are doing and what they look like and there facial expressions. Now remove the color and you have less to focus on. The less there is to complicate or manipulate your senses, the better you can process what you are seeing. With no color, no sound or any extra interference we can focus on the content and context of the image and truly enjoy the photography.

What do you think?