Do you only make / view B&W photos?

jsrockit

jsrockit

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The reason I ask is that I know some people who only really look at B&W photos (I mean going out of one's way to galleries, museums, books, etc. for B&W as opposed to the magazines, newspapers, ads, and internet news seen by all of us daily) and only make B&W photos. It struck me as strange that someone would only want to view a certain type of photo. Making only B&W photos, I understand.

I'm about 95% color and 5% B&W for my work, yet I buy photo books with B&W photos all of the time... and will go out of my way to see B&W photography.

For anyone who truly only enjoys B&W or knows someone that only enjoys B&W photography, I have to ask: Why the self-imposed exile from color photography?
 
Well, it's something you can print in a darkroom on fiber paper and dry mount, for one reason. Try that w/ a digital file some time. Color is too literal (and too fugitive). B&W is more abstract. It's archival. The tones are just wonderful. You have to know what you're doing if you shoot B&W film. Don't read too much into this, but give anyone a DSLR w/ a good lens and they can take great color photos. The same can NOT be said for handing them a film camera loaded w/ B&W film. Hey, where's the computer? I can't fix this in PS? Traditionally, B&W photography is held to the highest art standards. Not so color work.
 
Color is evil !! those reds and their promiscuous ways, yellows gallivanting with their bright hues..............
 
Steve M. said:
Well, it's something you can print in a darkroom on fiber paper and dry mount, for one reason. Try that w/ a digital file some time. Color is too literal (and too fugitive). B&W is more abstract. It's archival. The tones are just wonderful. You have to know what you're doing if you shoot B&W film. Don't read too much into this, but give anyone a DSLR w/ a good lens and they can take great color photos. The same can NOT be said for handing them a film camera loaded w/ B&W film. Hey, where's the computer? I can't fix this in PS? Traditionally, B&W photography is held to the highest art standards. Not so color work.
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What about color film.......? loaded in the same camera your talking about..?
 
Steve M. said:
Well, it's something you can print in a darkroom on fiber paper and dry mount, for one reason. Try that w/ a digital file some time.
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I've used wet B&W (35mm, 120, 4x5" etc plus van dyke brown and cyanotypes) and color darkrooms (c-prints and cibachromes) for many years. Digital is still photography to me, so I don't differenciate between the two. The resulting photos / content matter more than the process to me. I find digital just as fun as a wet darkroom. Salgado's printers print his digital photos from negatives... :)

Color is too literal (and too fugitive). B&W is more abstract. It's archival. The tones are just wonderful. You have to know what you're doing if you shoot B&W film. Don't read too much into this, but give anyone a DSLR w/ a good lens and they can take great color photos. The same can NOT be said for handing them a film camera loaded w/ B&W film.
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Oh course the same can be said of B&W. I'm not sure how it is these days, but when I went to school...B&W was what you began with and color was more advanced. If you can make great photos, you can do it in color or B&W. I'm not sure what makes you think that a digital camera is a magical device that makes someone good at Photography. Ooops, read into it a bit. :)

Hey, where's the computer? I can't fix this in PS? Traditionally, B&W photography is held to the highest art standards. Not so color work.
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Not sure where you have been for the last 30-40 years, but I see plenty of color in galleries and museums. ;)

Anyway, I think I was speaking more of people who only view B&W photos... the taking only B&W photos part is secondary.
 
I shoot BW almost exclusively, not because I dislike color but because I find it so difficult. On the other hand, now that I think of it, I buy a lot of color photography books ! I think I truly enjoy looking at good color photography, just have been so far incapable of making anything that I don't want to burn immediately
 
I am slowly gravitating from being exclusively BW to shooting more color... I think color is MUCH more advanced, for there is a lot more going on and thus a lot more to think about when shooting.
I wish I had more color talent...
 
i am red-green colorblind, so i do not know if a color photo is true to colors or not. i simply do not see the same palette as the film or sensor. but, if the LIGHT and content are interesting, you betcha i'll look at color photos.
i'm doing a lot more color just because i have the rff communty x100. i have to trust the camera and the post-processing thingies for the color, but i can still read light, no matter what color it is ...
 
I only shoot B&W and mainly look at B&W photography, because good colour photography is very rare, and most of the time, people shoot colour, because they want it to look as close to the reality as possible, which is exactly opposite of what I like in photography.
 
Comparing color to black and white imaging is apples to oranges. While both are made in the camera, they each have different strengths and weaknesses that need to be considered when choosing which you prefer to use. To weigh in on the OP's question, I return to black and white again and again because of the aesthetic - I can't neccesarily put my finger on it, but I find I like the way the world looks in black and white.

A couple years ago I shot a personal project on ice hockey in a remote, working class section of Minnesota centered on a family with three generations of players/coaches. I showed some of the first photographs to an author friend, and his first comment was "why black and white? Bad choice - hockey is all about the pagentry and vibrance." So you see, if HE had shot it, it would have been in color, but to me hockey is not about color - I got exactly what I wanted in the medium I wanted to get it in and wouldn't have it any other way. Here's the link to some of the work if interested:

http://mdwphoto.smugmug.com/Art/Iron-Hockey-American-Heart/9019243_WSKXTd#!i=599955478&k=zeBGa

That said, color is in no way 2nd fiddle to black and white - it is just a different way of thinking and of using the camera - as is the answer to most of these type of dilemmas, the end result is most strongly influenced by the photographer's use of the tool, and not the tool itself.
 
When I shoot for myself, it's 95 percent B&W. (At least, the finished product is B&W).
When I shoot for others, of course, I let them decide whether they want color or B&W.
 
I love both, depending on the situation. If I were better at processing b&w and had access to a dark room I would probably like b&w even more than I already do, but I'm still learning. If pressed, I would have to say that I prefer color slides most of all. A beautiful color slide has no equal, imo.

As for viewing, I suppose I find myself more drawn to b&w, but I think that's because most of my favorite photographers shot primarily in b&w.

Lately I've found myself shooting more in color than b&w for the simple reason that all signs seem to indicate that color film will one day not be here, whereas b&w film will likely be around for many years to come, and I want to take advantage of it while I can.
 
Maybe it's just me, but I can feel overwhelmed with too many color photos. Be it taking or viewing, but especially editing.

I have not yet recall thinking: "I've seen enough B&W to last me a week!" :)
 
John,

For me color is more advanced, and even though I went to art school I did not learn about doing a color darkroom. You went to a good school with a good program for photography, but my school in the seventies didn't offer anything in color.

Over the decades I got comfortable progressing in just B&W. Perhaps over the past two years maybe I shot less than half a dozen rolls of color film other than the 5 rolls of Kodachrome someone gave me.

I love all good photography, both color and B&W, but for my own work is seems to be B&W only.

Cal
 
Calzone said:
I love all good photography, both color and B&W, but for my own work is seems to be B&W only.
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Right Cal, this I understand i.e. work in B&W only but view all types of photography. I just find it strange that people only view B&W photos. That said, I'm not so sure it differs much from listening to a particular genre of music. It either does it for you or it doesn't.
 
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