RE: [Leica]now:B&W photography

[Richard Edwards <REdwards@Vetronix.com>]

I shoot predominantly color, but prefer B&W, both in still photography
and
movies. I like good prints of old black-and-white films.

I guess I feel that with color, the engineers who concocted the emulsion
decided what blue, green, and so on would look like, so that with
black-and-white
you have a less-interpreted image. Less, simplistically, nothing of the
sort
is true, since different black-and-white emulsions give different
results, but
I enjoy my belief that I'm seeing something closer to what's really
there when
I shoot color film.

A group of Danish filmmakers have signed a covenant called Dogma 95,
which
stipulates that they will avoid using such things as steadycams, studio
lighting,
non-ambient music, and props. The only film I have seen that has been
shot according to the principles of Dogma 95 is 'Celebration.'  Should
you choose
to see this film, check to make sure you can get Prozac with your
Raisinets
in the lobby.

Most interesting about all this is that Dogma 95 specifically says that 
films should be shot in color. I don't know what to make of this, except
to guess that they are reacting against some pretentious independent
filmmakers' use of black and white.

Hmmmmm....

- -Al

The Dvorak Keyboard:
   pyfgcrl
aoeuidhtns
qjkxbmwvz


> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Gareth Jolly [SMTP:gareth.jolly@minters.com.au]
> Sent:	Monday, February 15, 1999 5:15 PM
> To:	leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject:	[Leica] was:Wedding photography. now:B&W photography
> -Reply
> 
> I once went to a lecture by David Moore, who is one of Australia's
> best
> photographers.  His primary medium is black and white.
> 
> One of the audience (presumably one who didn't know anything about
> David Moore's work) asked which he preferred - colour or black and
> white.
> 
> He replied (I'm probably misquoting him a bit here), how many great
> colour photographs can you think of?  Now, how many black and white?
> 
> That's what I keep returning to.  There is something about the simple,
> graphic quality of black and white photographs which etch themselves
> in
> your memory.  They have an impact, which I don't believe colour images
> have.
> 
> Incidentally, I'd regard myself as a relatively young photographer
> (31)
> who has just started using an M6 - together with Tri-X developed in
> HC110 - in place of a Nikon SLR.  Wouldn't look back
> 
> Regards
> 
> Gareth Jolly
> 
> >>> Ted Grant <tedgrant@islandnet.com> 16/February/1999 09:26am
> >>>
> 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
> 
>