Loving Black and White

I personally think the B&W is much sexier. Originally Posted by pjorourke
Word!
spice-is-nice's Avatar
I too love B&W photography. My personal favorite is Bell Pepper #30, by Edward Weston which can be found many places, including here:http://www.mfah.org/exhibition.asp?p...&currentPage=1

I would insert the actual photograph but I don't know how to do so in here.

Back in the 70s my wife and I wandered into a shop in Carmel, California which had a beautiful matted print of this photograph, a print done by one of his sons. We could have had it for $80, and considered it, but seemed like a lot of money at the time. Have kicked myself ever since.
Andrea Davis's Avatar
Here is my Black and WHite Photo!
Iaintliein's Avatar
That's gorgeous Andrea! I hope others join in. . . sure beats beating each other up over politics!

Thanks!
Sisyphus's Avatar
Very nice!! B&W photos just seem capable of delivering a delicious blend of elegance & eroticism that is so SO tough to capture in color.

I wish I could express precisely why. I just don't have the photographic vocabulary....
Back in the 70s my wife and I wandered into a shop in Carmel, California which had a beautiful matted print of this photograph, a print done by one of his sons. We could have had it for $80, and considered it, but seemed like a lot of money at the time. Have kicked myself ever since. Originally Posted by spice-is-nice
And now I'm kicking you too, sorry to say.

One my personal treasures is a gallery-poster of an exhibition of his work, still in its original plastic wrap with backing. Found it at Goodwill years ago for $2.

XX
Amanda
Sa_artman's Avatar
Very nice!! B&W photos just seem capable of delivering a delicious blend of elegance & eroticism that is so SO tough to capture in color.

I wish I could express precisely why. I just don't have the photographic vocabulary.... Originally Posted by Sisyphus

I agree. People tend to see B/W as old world artsy, so hence when something is produced in B/W it immediately takes on that appeal. I remember a discussion many years ago among fellow 'artsy' types about a fellows images. He had these images, snapshots if you will, of nude women against a white wall, mostly standing, no real posing and sincerely lacking in any posing merits. He was pawning them off as art and got defensive when challenged. Someone else produced some images done for advertising, women against a white wall, better posing/production. The discussion got heated with the argument that if the first fellows images were left as color, they would have no merit and that merely printing them in B/W was not sufficient to raise them to 'art' and if that was the marker for art, then printing the commercial images in B/W would change their status. I don't recall that conversation going anywhere.

I think Iaintliein has done a good job at using B/W to it's strengths, which is stripping an image of the extraneous information allowing one to focus on the image composition and it's subject. One tends to notice more elements in an image when produced in B/W, such as an Ansel Adams. Side by side next to a color rendition, the B/W is just stunning.
I agree, black and white is sexy and classic!
There is something very soothing about looking at both photos , and movies that are in B&W. I love watching B&W movies because they have such a subtle look, and style to them.

My friends use to tease me because I owned a B&W TV for years , and refused to get rid of it. I decided that everything looked better in B&W, and there was no need for color on my TV. It finally died , and I was unable to find a new B&W TV ( who knew they stopped making them ) I still miss my old TV. The world can be a harsh place when watching it in color.
Simplicity is a draw. We're all exhausted by overload.
I Agree. Black and white photos seem to capture emotions more so than colour photos. Perhaps it is the simplicity and rawness that comes across in a black and white photo, thus leaving so much more to the imagination..