[Leica] was:Wedding photography. now:B&W photography

[Ted Grant <tedgrant@islandnet.com>]

Andre Jean Quintal wrote
:
> but I grind my teeth when I read of conservative Leica owners holding on
>to black and white when such beautiful photos can be had with available
>light color prints, done by a well chosen lab, especially with Leica
>optics.

Non-photo trip people always seem sorry their faces are black and
white...in such context. The only way I'd use B&W would be in newsprint
advertising, as a digital "reduction">>>>>>>

Hi Andre,

I'm a great believer in B&W photography, always have been, always will be.
Certainly when it comes to photographing people doing things. Obviously
where the subjects are models wearing clothes for sale and the "colour of
the clothes" is the reason for the pictures.. Then one would use colour.

But what I continually hear from pros, amateurs and most important, the
people who pay the bills, B&W always looks so special!  Even every day
folks who have no idea how to work a camera will say, "Gee B&W pictures
sure have some power to them!"

The late Harry Reasoner of TV: "There isn't anything like a great big black
and white photograph that colour TV can ever match for beauty!"

An example.  A wedding photographer friend, very expensive to hire this
guy, minimum fee: $3000.00. Has started using one of his staff
photographers to shoot all b&W at the same wedding he is doing in colour.

The reason?  He makes a fortune in selling the B&W pictures as a special
look at the beautiful day and the brides are going crazy over them. It's
all candid available light shooting and some brides order several albums to
give to friends. So what am I reading in this one?

"Real Photographers Shoot B&W! Eat Sushi and drink Scotch!" :) Not
necessarily in that order. :)

B&W isn't just for newspapers. Unfortunately, too many newspapers run
colour just for the sake of colour and not the value of "B&W visual impact".

Sure holiday scenics and the "here we are standing in the ocean" kinda
images are great in colour, but if you're shooting something about people
involved in doing things, intense or otherwise, you can't beat B&W.

Let me add that there are situations where the colour of the event makes
for using colour available light Leica images, but it's because of the
colour in the event and not the immediacy of the event.

Even war and the downtrodden of the world have much greater impact in B&W,
simply because the reality of colour takes away the visual impact due to
the clothes and just colour itself.

Even blood has greater impact in B&W than in colour. The publisher of my
book on the medical profession was concerned, "make sure you don't show too
much blood. It looks ghastly in B&W!"  If you have any doubt about the
power in black & white photography and why some of us hang onto it so
dearly, you should have a look at my Leica created book, "This is Our Work.
The Legacy of Sir William Osler."  In colour it would have been a complete
failure!  In B&W it moves people with it's "feeling." There isn't any
colour getting in the way of the content and being a distraction.

Keep this in mind the next time you consider shooting or not in colour.

"When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes! But
when you photograph people in black and white; You photograph their souls!"
ted

Ted Grant
This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William Osler.
http://www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant