The magic mirror in the Snow White fairy-tale always told the truth when asked, ‘Who is the fairest one of all?’. And a good mirror will always give a true reflection. But how interesting is that, photographically speaking? Isn’t it more fun to play around with distorted reflections, whether in mirrors or any other surface?
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A still image freezes time for a fraction of a second. Life stands still, and we don’t know what happened next. But a movie, while in reality a fast-changing sequence of still images, shows us life in motion. Is that an easier way to tell a story? Perhaps; however our imaginations alone can often create multiple stories out of a single image.
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The Roman poet Horace said that 'a picture is a poem without words'. Of course he would not have known about photography, living as he did over two thousand years ago. But I’m sure if he had, he would have looked for poems in photos.
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Spring is the most colourful of seasons so how can we best capture its wonders in monochrome? The colours of spring are special to us as we transition from the muted, often monochromatic tones of winter to a vibrant explosion of life and renewal. So what happens if we remove those colours from our photos?
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I wonder whether images ‘choose’ photographers? I think in a way they do, in the sense that any keen photographer will put themselves in the best position for potential pictures to choose them. They know where to go, where (and importantly) how to look.
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The first colour many of us think of when we hear the word ‘night’ might well be black. But as Van Gogh famously reminded us, there are many more colours to be seen then too. And he made his remark before the advent of our brightly lit cities, where many colours are more evident at night than black!
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I am writing this at the end of March and spring seems definitely to have arrived in London. Street trees are in blossom, birds are more active and more vocal, and our garden is awakening. But my ‘story’ starts back in the tail-end of winter, February.
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Neil Gaiman once said, 'Picking five favourite books is like picking the five body parts you'd most like not to lose.' If you replace the word ‘books’ in that quote with ‘photographs’ you will know exactly how I feel. I have a similar reaction when people ask me which are my top three / five / ten places I’ve visited.
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A good portrait photograph is shaped by the connection between two people, photographer and subject. Without that connection the image is at best less interesting, at worst lifeless. When we look at an interesting portrait we discover something about the person portrayed: their life, their character. But we only do so if the photographer has discovered this and brought it out in their image.
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Without the distraction of colours, the focus shifts more to the subject’s face and expression. The eyes in particular seem to stand out more, and consequently as a viewer you often feel more connected to the person. And the absence of colour results in an emphasis on shape and form, often making the people seem more significant than their surroundings.
