For the love of . . .

. . . black & white photography!!

I said my next post would be about my initial creative love - before I discovered that writing could actually be a career, albeit not a lucrative one! Once I realized that I could not draw for peanuts, even though I loved to draw, and following the brief creative dry period, when I focussed on school work, band and other things like learning to sew, I got my hands on a camera.

My first forays were, as one expect from a 16-year-old who had never had the opportunity to even touch a camera before, nevermind actually take photos, pretty bad. But even way back then, I was not really interested in taking pictures of things that were "happening", but in making something interesting. And when I had the opportunity to observe a friend of mine developing photos in his make-shift darkroom (I believe it was the bathroom in his brother's house), I discovered how much better black & white was.

Okay, better is a matter of opinion, I know. And don't get me wrong, colour can be fabulous - but usually in other people's photos. My personal preference is for black & white or sepia. Call me old-fashioned, but that's the way it is. Photos of my children look awesome in colour, but by turning them into black & white, they just seem to gain a whole other dimension or quality, that's not in the colour photos.

So, with all the children now at school, all day - our youngest started Kindergarten on Wednesday - I have more time to shoot things other than the kids or my garden!

Here are a few samples of my latest work, in both black & white, and colour.

As you can see, the combine just doesn't look as good in colour, as it does in black & white. The old fence at the back of the corral is the same - it just doesn't look right in colour.

I have taken some photos recently, of knarly dead trees and stumps, which look equally good in colour or b&w - in fact, there's one, that looks better in colour! Yes, I can have an open mind - not everything has to be devoid of colour!

How beautiful is that sky? If only the combine wasn't parked in the trees, I could've had some similar shots of that . . . but I didn't. Trees do make a good background - provided they're blurry, so they don't detract from the main image.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. In addition to loving b&w, blurry backgrounds or foregrounds are features I enjoy incorporating. After years of taking pictures for the newspaper, where the subject matter (no offense to news, I love news, but those photos are not artistic in the least) was often-times boring, and where everything had to be crisp and clear, I am so happy to be able to shoot what I want, the way I want. Yes, I've been able to do that with the kids for the last decade or so, but going out and looking for fun subject matter, is vastly different from going out to look for something for the front page. You know? And it's also vastly different from taking pictures of the kiddos on their birthdays, Christmas and first day of school.

This is art. Different art from that created by my friends Bernice and Diana - they are painters (although Bernice is a master of several mediums, not just painting), and their work is awesome! Different also, from my friend Julie, who does landscape photography and close-up/macro photography. Again, her work is awesome, absolutely beautiful . . . and in colour! Some of the photos she's taken, I could only dream of creating!

Thanks, once again, for reading, and I hope you've enjoyed the selections of my work posted here today. I'll also update my links to include the work of those friends mentioned in this posting, so you can see for yourselves how fabulous they are, and how beautiful their work is.