Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/04/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Apr 14, 2011, at 10:35 PM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > I reject Dr. Ted's pat aphorism that when you photograph people in color, > you photograph their clothes but when you shoot B&W you photograph their > soul. Rather than rejection I simply note when I observe exceptions (in either direction). Others have referred to the idea as, "?style over substance." > Color merely adds an extra creative dimension. Used wisely it enhances > an image. The catch comes with the "used wisely." > Ask Rembrant, Bonnard, Matisse, Van Gogh or any of their crowd. > Even the 10,000 year old cave drawings used color. Photographers developed > a > B&W fetish because color was technically difficult to use for more than > half > of photography's history. Paint is also "technically difficult to use." Artists don't shy away from the "technically difficult." > If B&W was esthetically superior, charcoal drawings would predominate in > fine art. These matters come down to aesthetic sensibilities (ant the concomitant decisions). The graphic arts (lithography, engraving, intaglio, woodcut, and photography) have all had color options for a very long time. You'll find centuries of both monochrome and color variations in prints. "Drawing" has also had centuries of color application in the use pastel chalks, cont?s, and inks Yet artists continue to make aesthetic choices visa vi color or monochrome to this day. <http://www.abstract-art.com/abstraction/l2_grnfthrs_fldr/g035a_kline_cardinal.html> <http://www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese_watercolor_paintings.htm> <http://www.lukechueh.com/paintings/black-in-white.html> > Besides, I'm cheap enough to feel that I've wasted my money if I shoot B&W > pictures using a digital camera capable of taking beautiful color images. > With film and paper prints it was a different story. It seems apparent that you tend to have a "color aesthetic" and I dare say bias. Though the choice IMO certainly should have nothing to do with any economic consideration. It must have everything to do with substance, content, intention, style and the like. Regards, George Lottermoser george at imagist.com http://www.imagist.com http://www.imagist.com/blog http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist