Black and White Photography.

Black and white photography is an option when it comes to how an image is processed after it is captured by the photographer.  Back in the day (and currently for that matter), you could get black and white film that only captured an image in black and white, and to be honest, most professional cameras will allow you to capture your images strictly in black and white – and if you prefer in color, but show you a black and white version on the LCD screen on the back of your camera.

Some people love it – some people hate it.  Why is that?

I find black and white photography to be a really touchy subject when it comes to the public – and even other photographers.  Some people LOVE black and white photography and some people hate it.  I find a few people in the middle feel indifferent towards it – but why is that and why is black and white photography so emotive?  How can simply removing the color from an image create such intense feelings on either end of the spectrum for people?  Answering this question is exactly why I wanted to write about this subject tonight.

Personal Preference

One of the most important people in my life ‘HATES’ black and white photography – my own Mother.  Now, my Mom is a wicked lady and she is also older (like born in the ’40’s older) and she has maybe only once or twice in my life actually said she preferred a black and white over a color image that I have put side by side.  When I asked her on that occasion why she always preferred color, her reply then (and always for that matter) is “when I was little it was only black and white – I just like the color version”.Ok – I will give her that.  Personal preference is the first thing we can check off our list – some people are just drawn towards color and some are just drawn towards black and white.

Ok – I will give her that.  Personal preference is the first thing we can check off our list – some people are just drawn towards color and some are just drawn towards black and white.  I once had a photography friend in Calgary, Alberta who was a brilliant photographer adorn her walls with about 95% black and white images of her children and family.  She was obsessed with black and white images and I always loved that about her and her art.

Emotional Depth in Black and White Photography

When you remove the color from an image, you are forced to look harder at the image.  I have had friends and acquaintances on Facebook tell me more than once how they normally would just scroll through black and white images – but for some reason, they felt the need to literally stop and look at an image that I have produced.  When I asked them why they didn’t really have a reason – just that “they are really beautiful”.

I am always really happy to take a compliment.  It ‘fills my bucket’ sort to speak and makes any artist feel good that someone is appreciating the work that you create.  Stopping someone in their social network tracks though is something special and that means that I hit an emotional cord.

Photography is an emotional luxury that we treat ourselves too.  We do this for many reasons, but for myself imparticular, I do it to record our history.   I live for pictures of my children and my day to day – documenting every little thing that happens.  I watched a video on Facebook years ago about a woman who had written a memoir about her every day while raising her children and living her life.  At one point she began discussing how she had photo albums FILLED with beautiful events and images of her children celebrating birthdays, sports achievements and other ‘big’ events.  She broke down though when she began describing the moments she failed to capture the ‘every day’.  That was the moment I decided that I needed to go beyond the ‘pretty’ that I have built my business upon and to start recording more than just those perfect and orchestrated moments.

Now, when thinking about black and white photography, I get that feeling back about the need to capture the ‘moment’.  When I convert my images to black and white I am thinking about the emotion I feel when I look at the image.  The colors, the vibrancy, and the decadence are stripped away and you are left with only the image.  The black and white image that is staring back at you while you look at all aspects of it and take in so much more information about the ‘image’ that would normally be ignored because the eyes are so overwhelmed with so much information from a color image.  I know I tend to judge a color image, less on the photography but more on the editing and the colors, technical aspects, and model vs. the image as a whole.

These factors all add up to how the image emotionally impacts you and this is why this summer you will see a lot more depth and emotive black and white photography from Suzanne Taylor Photography.  I will be mentoring with Christine Kapuschinsky this month and will be learning a bunch of new techniques to take my black and white photography from where it is at to be a LOT more intense and emotive in the final product.

The importance of black and white photography is so intense for me because of the reasons listed above that I make sure to include at least one or two in every series that I do of my children – if not all of them.  The impact of a good black and white photograph can elevate an image so much to its viewers…and change the opinion they have of black and white photographs forever.  My goal is to change my Mom’s opinion…I will let you know how that goes.

Warmly,
Suzie
XO

www.suzannetaylorphotography.com
hello@suzannetaylorphotography.com

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