RE: [Leica] Color v Black and White

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

> I rather think that we've become so inundated with colour images that
> what was once a fresh medium full of unexplored creative possibilities is
> become frought with redundancy and cliche.  Media overload, if you will;
> we've become somewhat jaded and desensitised to the making and the
> viewing...
> Regards,
> Nigel
>
Nigel - I think it has more to do with, as someone commented here recently,
the color distraction factor. Unless one is shooting color for the sake of
the colors - i.e., a sunset, an ocean scene, etc.- then color often
distracts from the import of the image. I suppose I am speaking mostly of
photo journalism, or photos taken in a photo journalistic style. But I know
that I have always felt that Black and White has far more emotional impact
than color. This may have something to do with my age, and the fact that I
grew up in a black and white world - in terms of newspapers, magazines and
tv, anyway. But again, go look through Requiem, or any similar photo
collection. The image is the image. The message is the image. I know that
there's some good color work in requiem, including one of Capa's last
images, but the strongest stuff is the Larry Burrows and Henri Huet B&W
work...even though there are Burrows colored shots in the book.