Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/03/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Bonjour Steve, B&W or colour is a real dilemma! The dpa (German Press agency) asked me for pictures of Palestinian refugee camps, of which I have quite a lot, but in B&W. They took the 2 colour pictures I had available with the remark that B&W was for "arty" pictures and nowadays everything had to be colour... In this case colour added absolutely nothing. Au contraire! My only thought was "imb?ciles"... All the best from Paris, Tarek Le 3 mars 09 ? 05:04, Steve Barbour a ?crit : > > On Mar 2, 2009, at 7:41 AM, Tina Manley wrote: > >> At 03:51 PM 3/1/2009, you wrote: >>> it's sort of a paradox, I know the color sells better, but you can >>> only say ..."look at the beautiful colors" in so many ways, then it >>> becomes redundant... >>> >>> color has replaced content... >>> Steve >> >> I agree, Steve, and I almost always prefer B&W, but for some >> cultures, color is such an important part of their lives that to >> leave it out seems to be leaving out part of their character. In >> Peru, all of their handicrafts, clothes, weavings - everything that >> they surround themselves with is brilliantly colored. Out in the >> rural areas, their homes are made of adobe mud - dark brown - and >> most do not have electricity. It's all dark and drab and mud- >> colored except for the bright splashes of their weavings. I think >> in this case, color is part of the content and has not replaced >> it. I do intend to try most of them both ways. So far, I've only >> looked at the jpegs - half of which are B&W and half color. I'm >> sure I'll end up switching in some cases, but right now I'm >> sticking with my original decision. > > > > I do understand Tina and it's a tough call; we have discussed this > dilemma before. Color is essential from one perspective, but it > has obvious negatives, and if you want to sell the photos, common > wisdom is that color is necessary... > > Just the obvious question ..why is color necessary to the people and > to the photos..brings up an interesting deep question, why is color > added on by the people to their customary drab lives...? > what would you see if you looked underneath ie beyond the color ? > It does raise the interesting possibility that you would see the > people quite differently... > > > Steve