The Color Of Photography

Russ

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Joined
Dec 27, 2003
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959
If you're photographing in color
you show the color of their clothes -
if you use black and white,
you will show the color of their soul.

~Author Unknown
 
It's kind of like the motorcycle mantra:

4 wheels transport the body
2 wheels move the spirit (or soul)
 
FrankS,
That is SO true, great saying. A good handling bike, on a curvy mountiain road = Nirvana :angel:
 
Brian,
Grreat shot, is that your child? Getting the "catch-light" just right really helps make a shot.
 
Thankyou for the compliment. That is my girl at age 4. This shot is taken with a Schneider Xenon 50mm F1.9 lens, wide-open. The older glass really glows when it comes to B&W.
 
Russ,
Despite the current 'reverence' for B&W, I don't find it "better" than color - just a different tool in our bag. I've had my breath taken away by gorgeous color landscapes, the same as B&W portraits. I use and enjoy both :)
 
I understand the sentiment behind Ted Grant's poetry and its reference to portrait photography. B&W does free the viewer from being "bedazzled" by color and allows more focus on expression. By the late 1960's B&W was almost dead as an everyday film for "snapshooters" and color dominated the market. Some even thought B&W would completely die away...

But color captures the world around us, and allows us to share a special portion of our witnessing of the world with others. This Starfish is a perfect example: I have never seen such a beautiful starfish in its natural setting and probably never will. But I have seen it through your camera, and it is beautiful. In B&W, it would have lost something in the translation.
 
Thanks to all for the compliments, Russ has been to Woodard Bay park (near Olympia, WA) with me also. It was the lowest tide in 20 years. Velvia helps.
We like to tease one another about his preference for B&W street shooting and mine for nature photos. We strive to help one-another see the other's perspective and it helps us both expand our horizons.
;)
 
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