My Experiences in Black and White
"Hey Carson, go stand over by the wood shed.” I was standing in the middle of my yard looking all over for something to make my next picture pop! The shed was so weather beaten, a lot of the steel blue paint had peeled off, and underneath the worn and rough wood that had turned grey was showing through. “Okay, smile!” I say as he stands in the weeds.
Click.
“Oh, wait hang on. Let me try this again.” I say not in love with the image I just captured. I stepped back a little, careful not to twist my ankle stepping over the mixture of rusted car parts. What was once a vegetable garden, that I had high hopes for, was now a place my husband liked to park his old cars he hoped to restore. I teased Cameron that instead of growing tomatoes and cucumbers we were growing rusty cars sprouted from all the strewn about car parts. I stepped back, looked through the view finder of my camera, saw Carsons cute face and big teeth that he hadn’t quite grown into and pressed the shutter button.
Click.
“Thanks! You can go play now.” I said as I was started scrolling through the photos I had just taken. Just to make sure I got a good shot.
“Let me see, mom.” Carson said. He was pretty excited too, since this was our first digital camera. We were all excited because we no longer had to wait to develop the film, the photos appeared on the back of the camera instantly. I thought everyone by this time had a digital camera except for me, and we finally had one of our own.
“Look how cute you are!” I said, smiling at him. He smiled back at me a little shy before He took off running towards the house. Alone, I took a good look around my backyard. I was on a roll, what more could I photograph? I began too see my familiar backyard as uncharted territory. Now that I had a digital camera I finally became frivolous with my photography, I didn’t feel the need to be stingy with my shots as I did with film. I thought back to the first time I really understood what a camera was. It was when my family had gotten a Polaroid camera. It seemed to me it worked off magic, once the shutter button was pressed it was like Christmas waiting for the photo to spit out. The magical sounds coming from the camera let me know it was working. It just added to the excitement. Almost instantly a 3.5”x 4.5” rectangle shot out from the front of the camera. Since the image was still developing and my excitement prevented me from calmly waiting I pulled the image out from the camera and fanned it feverishly through the air to help speed along the developing process so the picture would appear. I loved it! I wanted to walk around the house taking pictures of all the neat things we had around like my cat, or my pink jelly shoes.
“Dad, let me take a picture?!’’ I asked.
‘’Of what?” he asked me.
“Tommy cat.” I said.
“No, we need to save the film” He went on “it costs a lot of money to buy the film, so we need to just save it for special times.”
“Alright, can I take your picture? I hoped he’d say yes.
“No, not right now.” Bummer!
I began to understand that we only took pictures to keep as memories. We took pictures of family and barbeques and when guests came over with children we’d all line up and said cheeeese!
Now here I was standing in the middle of my backyard thinking about taking photos of the trees, the car parts, whatever I could. I was pushing buttons discovered the black and white option, I set it and went off. I went to the side of the house where no one goes and started taking photos of the wood pile stacked neatly against the siding. The logs were all different sizes long, short, skinny, fat they were all weathered and the bark was frayed and I thought to myself this was pretty artsy, I’m taking a photo of wood and in black and white! After that I moved to the billowy dandelion tufts defiantly tall in our lawn, getting as close as I could while keeping the soft globes in focus. Studying each image on the LCD screen until I was satisfied that I got the shot. It wasn’t until later did I realize that until that moment black and white photography wasn’t something readily available to me. I wasn’t buying black and white film because it wasn’t as easy for me to find, unlike the color films, you could get standing in the checkout line at the grocery store. Plus, it seemed old fashioned. I saw black and white in old family albums, or in history books documenting the great depression. However, I did enjoy these photos, for the nostalgia. They were dramatic and beautiful, but it was old fashioned.
No, It was only when I discovered I had the choice to change from color to black and white was as easy as pushing a button, could I see the power of what black and white could do. I started noticing other black and white photographs and realized they were powerful and full of emotion and moodiness as well. It was no longer old fashioned.
I was taking photos for sentimental reasons, but now with a new found power I could become a junior Dorthea Lange- I had the proof right there in my LCD screen that I could make a picture speak without color and maybe I wasn’t the only one listening. I could take a photo and now that I had control of the color, I could produce an image that was sure to win at least first prize at the county fair! These photos I took, really were my way of sharing of what I loved and cared about, and the lack of color immensely added emotion and substance to these photos. They were honest. I was counting on the lack of color to simply add truth. These images I took, were unpretentious and emotional because whether the kids were crying about how bored they were or how slow I was, showed on their faces. Nobody commented on how cute they looked in matching colors, they were commenting on their expressions. I was proud to show these wonderful bits of monochromatic heaven to anyone and everyone who showed interest. Without color now, I was capturing the mood and emotion of the moment and it was showing up in the photos and I could direct other people to focus on the same thing.
I read “A good black and white photograph will leave a bigger impression on the viewer. The absence of color puts more emphasis on subject and lighting.”- Elja Trum. Without color the subject is emphasized, the subject usually is what the photographer wants you to see, and to care about. So take the distractions out and start to think and to envision your photography in black and white.
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