Re: [Leica] colour

[Ted Grant <tedgrant@shaw.ca>]

Rob Appleby wrote:
>>> Ted, I love and respect you and I even have a pair of your undershorts
for
> cleaning my lenses - but I've always thought the colour=clothes/BW=souls
> motto is a load of balls. That is just a matter of the photographer's eye,
> compassion and understanding of his subject.<<<

Hey good buddy haven't heard from you in a long time.:-)

I suppose yer right. ;-)  But it sounds cool ! ;-)

I can't imagine shooting your beautiful "colours of India" in B&W even
though it's people. The true magic of the photography is the outstanding
colours of their clothing and your ability to see and capture it at just the
right moment.

Nor can I imagine my book "This is Our Work. The Legacy of Sir William
Osler." on the medical profession being shot in colour with the same impact
as it has in B&W. Colour would take away the impact of concentration on the
subjects because it's what they're doing and not the colour of their
clothing.

I've generally equated colour with travel and colourful events, festivals,
fashion where they're flogging pretty coloured clothes etc. In these cases
the "colour is the magic" and should be shot in colour.

In similar vain, I relate to the battles of war, poverty, the down trodden,
the elite under some circumstances, the dramatic works of many of the great
photographers of the past century as being far more powerful in B&W than
colour. Why? Because they concentrate completely on the content of the
action or moment without any colour distraction.

I can't imagine Eddie Adams  AP picture of the VC shot in the head being
more dramatic in colour. It's the absolute concentration on the "action of
the moment" without the distraction of whatever the surrounding colours
were.

Unfortunately events like the crash of the Hindenburg with it's flaming
wreckage falling from the sky would've been brilliant in colour.... because
of the colour of the fire. Or the horror of an atomic bomb being detonated
is far more interesting in colour simply because of the brilliance of the
flash and attendant colours, which B&W wouldn't have the same impact in
shades of grey.

Of course making a blanket statement as I do:
""When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their clothes!
""But when you photograph them in B&W you photograph their souls!"

Really needs to be applied at the right moment and not thrown out as the be
all to end all fact. What happens is, it takes time and experience to learn
when to apply it and for what reason it's being used for the maximum effect.

And that's the hardest part for many to apply. Quite often we see B&W used,
where without question, it should've been shot in colour. Or vise versa, it
should've been B&W and not colour. But then there are people who do not
relate to the differences even when shown.

This fall at the Leica Seminar which Tina and I will be giving, one of
Tina's presentations is just that.... "Colour or B&W?"  And without
question, I expect it will be an eye opener for many to learn the
differences and why one is better over the other and at the right moment.
ted

Ted Grant Photography Limited
www.islandnet.com/~tedgrant


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