Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/10/12

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Subject: [Leica] Black and White
From: leica at rcmckee.com (R. Clayton McKee)
Date: Wed Oct 12 13:27:21 2005
References: <434D0874.3676.978C0B@localhost>

On 12 Oct 2005 at 20:53, Philippe Orlent wrote:

> I don't think B&W has anything to do with traditionalism.
> Just think 'Nachtwey': I'd call his work more timeless than
> traditionalistic.

To me that's something of a distinction without a difference.   
I'm not saying that ALL B&W is by its nature traditionalist work, or 
that traditional work is exclusively B&W....  but photographers with 
a sensitivity to tradition will tend to be more... accepting, maybe? 
... of B&W as a separate sort of thing rather than just desaturated 
color shots.

Nachtwey, both from how he works and what he says, seems to me to be 
VERY aware of the tradition he's working within.  Certainly he has a 
unique style, a visual language all his own, but he creates images 
that, like Salgado and others, are in essence straightforward 
documentary photographs.... timeless, because the subjects are 
timeless, but also traditional. Put Nachtwey's work beside Capa or  
Rodger or Haas or Bischof or Burrows, or even going back to Roger 
Fenton and Jimmy Hare, and the lineage is clear...


> Not that I have anything against color, but in this case it seems to add an
> exotic sense to the photographs, and I'm not sure if that is what Tina 
> wants
> to convey.

And this, I think, is where the viewer's world and experience come 
into play.  To you the color adds exoticism; to me it's just the 
reality of the situation.  I see this sort of color (and traditional 
Maya dress) every week if not every day, so for me it's beautiful, 
but not odd, and seeing people dressed this way doesn't trigger the 
National Geographic reflex so much. A bit, sure... but it's more 
setting than color; several of my neighbors are Guatemalan or 
Salvadoran.

> Karen's work is a different kind of photography: most of the photographs I
> looked at have a very neutral, almost cold, color range,  which sticks
> better to 'reportage' IMO than the vivid colors I see in Tina's work.
> Maybe desaturating and shifting the colors a bit might help to keep the
> 'more realistic' feeling one has looking at them in B&W.

The thing is that the colors Tina presents *are* accurate 
reportage... Dampening or desaturating them would itself be moving 
AWAY from reality.  Every few days I buy lunch at my front door from 
a lady who wears a very similar outfit when she makes her rounds 
selling home cooking.  (I don't buy because of the colors; she's a 
GOOD cook... lives one building over and her 8 year old daughter is 
always after me to "take me a picture of me and my baby brother..."  
Just neighbors.)

As I understand it the colors and patterns are meaningful; if you 
know how to "read" them you can get pretty accurate information about 
the origin and social status of the wearer, where they're from, and 
so forth....

Always interesting to see the different ways this sort of discussion 
goes, isn't it?--


R. Clayton McKee                           http://www.rcmckee.com
Photojournalist                               rcmckee@rcmckee.com
P O Box 571900                           voice/fax   713/783-3502
Houston, TX 77257-1900                   cell phone #  on request


Replies: Reply from philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent) ([Leica] Black and White)
In reply to: Message from leica at rcmckee.com (R. Clayton McKee) ([Leica] Black and White)
Message from philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent) ([Leica] Black and White)