Although all black and white photos are monochrome photos, not all monochrome photos have to be black and white. Monochrome comes from the Greek monochromos meaning ‘having one colour’. But why shouldn’t that one colour be green, beige, or orange? Or for that matter, grey, red or blue?
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A childhood favourite is the alphabet book. For the English speakers amongst us, the last few letters of the alphabet always presented the biggest challenges for those creating these books. X was always ‘for Xylophone’, Y ‘for Yacht’ or occasionally ‘for Yak’, and Z usually ‘for Zebra’. But most letters offer a wide range of options, among them H.
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While I try to avoid too many picture postcard souvenir shots when I travel, it’s inevitable that I will take some. I feel the need to record what I see initially, before diving deeper into the sights, looking for details or angles that are less obvious.
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When was the last time you used some form of transport? Car, bike, bus, train, plane … Most of us can’t get by without at least one of these. And wherever you go in the world, while the choice of transport might vary, people are on the move.
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One of the joys of Italy for me is the warmth in the colours of the buildings. When I think of Italy I think of ochres, terracottas and umbers. So it may seem strange to photograph Italian scenes in black and white.
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Once upon a time all photos were black and white. With the advent of colour photography we had a choice and many of us make that choice according to subject matter. Others meanwhile prefer to stick only to one or the other medium. But some subjects are naturally black and white.
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Woods (and forests) are lovely. But their very darkness and deepness can make them hard to do justice to as a photographer. One tree can merge into another, and another, and … It’s hard for the eye to find a single point of interest on which to settle and focus.
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I think we humans must always have considered flight as something magical. After all, we can travel easily over the ground but without some supporting device are unable to leave it. Consider how many mythical creatures have the power of flight, from fairies to winged horses to dragons.
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I seem to have a ridiculous number of streetlight photos! And their varied and interesting shapes and designs lend themselves to black and white photography. I find it surprising how many variations are possible in the design of something so relatively simple and everyday!
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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?
