I find that I am now taking most (if not all) of my photographs with a view to processing them as black and white. In fact, I have been taking more and more of my photos with my Fujifilm X70 precisely because I can see the world in monochrome through its touchscreen. So, I thought I’d jot down some of my reasons for this preference:
- Colour can be distracting. By removing the colour, I am forcing the viewer to focus on the shape, line, texture, and overall composition.
- It simplifies my task as a photographer. By working in black and white, I no longer have to consider the appropriate juxtaposition and balance of colours in my images.
- I think it gives my images a sense of timelessness.
- Processing it in monochrome (particularly with Nik Silver Efex) gives me more control over the mood of the image. It allows me more easily to put my interpretation on it. In the words of Elliott Erwitt, ‘Color is descriptive, black and white is interpretive.’
- It forces me to look at the world differently. So, I see things I would miss if I concentrated on the colours of a scene.
By the way, I have recently uploaded a new tranche of black and white photos to my Flickr account.
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