A Brief Diversion into Color Photography

I shoot a lot in black and white. But every now and again, I find myself going instead for color.

On my recent trip to Portland, I picked up a few books featuring the work of Saul Leiter and Fred Herzog, two photographers who used color film quite extensively at a time when most critics looked down upon it. Seeing their work made me think that it was time to try something different. Before heading out and about a few days ago, I changed the picture style setting on my Canon EOS R8 from monochrome to auto. I also reached for my adapted Carl Zeiss Jena 58mm f/2 Biotar lens. Its old coatings add an interesting patina especially to color images.

As I wandered around, I looked for photographic opportunities where color would be a significant part of the composition. For instance, there was this coreopsis blooming just off the sidewalk.

Flowers are nice to photograph, but I confess that I’ve never been much of a nature or landscape photographer.

By and large, I just didn’t encounter much that made me want to bring my camera to my eye—or, if those opportunities were there, I just didn’t see it. I realized afterwards that I’ve been training my eye to look for interestingly lit subjects that are rendered best in black and white.

For instance, there was this park bench that I photographed a day earlier in black and white. Since I shoot raw, I can easily recover the color version and compare the two.

There is no doubt in my mind that the black and white version is the more powerful one. In this particular case, the green color in this image is a distraction. The whole reason I snapped this photo was to capture the interesting way that late afternoon sunlight was illuminating the park bench. Since light and not color was the motivating factor, it’s natural that a rendition of this scene as a more pure abstraction of that light is the better way.

I know I’ve written before about the merits of color versus black and white photography. To be sure, my recent experiencing shooting my trip to Portland on color film was rather refreshing. I also I have great admiration for Leiter’s and Herzog’s respective bodies of work. Still, I have to say I remain drawn to the moodiness and dramatic contrast of black and white photography.

It’s not that black and white is inherently better for all subject matter than color is. It’s just that, for what my photographic eye is naturally drawn to, black and white is most often the better choice.