Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/05

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Subject: Re: [Leica] b&w, color of the soul (was: Old colour film stock and back to pictures.)
From: Eric Welch <ewelch@ponyexpress.net>
Date: Sat, 05 Sep 1998 14:26:37 -0500

At 07:00 PM 9/5/98 +0200, you wrote:

>"wrong" reasons: b&w advertisements are everywhere (posters, magazines),
>b&w reappears in motion images (video clips, etc), b&w is used again in
>photojournalism. This is what I call a "gimmick", a trick to attract
>attention from an audience saturated with high quality colour images and
>all too willing to like prefab nostalgia.

This I have to disagree with, in terms of photojournalism. It's always held
strong in p.j., though color comes and goes in popularity. For daily work,
color is the norm. But for personal work, and extended photo essays where
the subject is primary, the black and white wins often over color, because
it's easier to "read." Because it "looks" better in black and white. And
mainly, because available light is tough to do in color unless you're a
genius, like William Albert Allard, Sam Abell, Ernst Haas, etc.
- -- 

Eric Welch
St. Joseph, MO
http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch

 Analogies in writng are like feathers on a snake.