Re: [Leica] b&w, color of the soul (was: Old colour film stock and back to pictures.)

[Alan Ball <AlanBall@csi.com>]

Ted Grant wrote:
> That's one of the reasons I stay online here, as I hope that in some
> small way with 40 plus years of working photographer experience, much of
> it using Leicas, that I can give back to photography what photography
> has given to me.  In other words, just maybe I can make another
> photographers life just a little bit easier in becoming a better shooter
> than I.

Hi Ted,
You certainly do that very well, thanks a million times. Makes me even
more interested in getting your opinion on this: do you think the
current tide of b&w images in advertising and other photographic
applications in youth oriented expressions, shows a market suddenly keen
on seeing "the color of the soul rather than the colour of the clothes"
? Or could you agree that b&w is currently used and abused as a
marketing gimmick in a photographic world saturated with high quality
colour images and desperate to find ways of attracting attention ?

I am aware of the fact you use b&w in your own work, and, from the
pictures I have seen on your site, I can understand why. I do not
confuse this type of choice with the choices made by advertisment
agencies, MTV video clip producers or even casual point and shooters
keen on trying something more 'trendy'. 

I am a bit worried that over-usage of b&w in widespread campaigns and
XP2 throwaway boxes will end up in overkill and defuse the radicality of
the b&w option in modern photography as it has developed ever since high
quality color has been commonly available. It could even end up changing
the perception viewers may have when confronted to old classics, dating
back to the days before colour was reliable, and to high quality
contemporary work. These days, grayscale is a Photoshop option among
dozens of others, it is trendy today and will seem old hat tomorrow.
Soon to be perceived as a marketing trick of the nineties rather than a
quest for the "color of the soul" , and that perception might influence
the way all b&w work will be looked upon in a few years time. We live in
a world that considers it necessary to colorize old movies and then
promotes contemporary perfumes through grayscale cliches. I'm afraid
that the b&w option is soon to become meaningless...

Friendly regards
Alan.