Out and About on an Early Spring Day
March 17, 2024
Tags: Photography, Out and About

We’ve had absolutely beautiful weather in my little corner of the Pacific Northwest these past few days. I naturally heeded the call to get out and about with my camera yesterday and enjoy it.
Late afternoon sunlight offers a special opportunity to capture some nice images especially in black and white. The long shadows the sun casts when it approaches the horizon toward the end of the day makes even mundane subjects look more interesting.
This staircase looks unremarkable in midday light. But when the sun gets close to setting, all kinds of interesting shadows emerge:

I am drawn to images that lead the eye from one region to the other. Here, the staircase’s leading lines draw the eye to the passerby, who I intentionally rendered out of focus.
A bit later, I came across a blooming tree that was casting its shadow on a blank wall. It immediately caught my eye. I worked the scene with my camera and made several exposures. These are the best two:


It was a reminder never to forget to look up.
I often find that color distracts from what might otherwise be a more powerful image in black and white. Here are those two same images in color:


The wedge of blue sky in the top right corner of the image on the left and the red stripe on the building’s top edge that runs across the image on the right all distract from whatever stopping power these images may have. Color makes them feel disjointed and uninteresting.
One might think that springtime blooms naturally call for color photography. In certain cases, this may very well be true especially if those blooms are saturated in eye-catching color. But in the case of the image on the right, there is nothing particularly captivating about white blooms with hints of green leaves against a blue sky. What motivated me to take these two pictures wasn’t the color of the subject matter but rather the way that the tree branches cast a shadow on the building. And as far as the tree blooms are concerned, I think their depiction in black and white actually enhances their delicate snowy white appearance.
People are sometimes surprised to hear that I typically shoot in black and white even with a modern digital camera. One benefit of going mirrorless is that, since the electronic viewfinder shows a scene in black and white, I have an easier time judging how light renders that scene than I would if I were using the optical viewfinder of a DSLR. And since I shoot raw, I always have the option of converting an image I took in black and white into a color one if it turns out there was something significant about the color. (I took my cue on all of this from Ben Long’s Complete Digital Photography.)
But as it happens more frequently after I get back home from a photo walk, I’ll try converting a monochrome image to color only to see the sudden splash of color jar me. More often than not, I’ll immediately back out of that change and stay with the original black and white version.
Put it this way: we use the term photography, which means “writing with light.” We don’t have the term chromography, which would mean “writing with color.” For me, color is almost always secondary to light, and black and white photography lets me express the power of that light best.
Don’t get me wrong. One reason why I am such a fan of Canon digital cameras is the way they deliver rich and true colors for those subjects where color is significant. I have been shying away from color film photography lately precisely because my Canon digital cameras render such pleasing colors. But perhaps more compelling is the way they also deliver wonderful grey tones out of the box.
Regardless of whether the medium I’m using is film or a digital sensor, it’s those silvery grey tones that I scruitinize and crave. For me, much of the appeal of a black and white image lives there.
If you find yourself in a rut and shoot primarily or exclusively in color, try photographing in black and white. You may discover new avenues for creativity that have been there all along.