Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2012/12/12

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Subject: [Leica] Color vs B&W
From: tedgrant at shaw.ca (tedgrant at shaw.ca)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:31:43 -0800
References: <CCED779A.13C14%manolito@videotron.ca><6961F60394D940C9B95E2402D4A03441@syneticfeba505><7A7B130A-731F-4487-AF21-50FB114D8081@gmail.com><54535438-D6AD-4FF3-B192-203E6F876BD0@embarqmail.com><DEE90ACE-B0C8-4F1B-9C51-3E16B25BF5C1@gmail.com> <251D5729-0E9E-4876-A4DE-312B5D68A85C@embarqmail.com>

Sorry this becomes more confusing as the day goes on!

When you are a professional and on the staff of a wire service or an 
independent company and or on the staff of a newspaper? Magazine?  You 
bloody well shoot what you are told and or the type of publication uses!  Is 
that so hard to understand. I suppose so if you have always been in the 
"amateur photog classification?"

You have an assignment where you are on board a deep sea fishing trawler for 
3 to 4 weeks at sea and you have hundreds of rolls of film, black&white 
only! As you document the lives of the crew.

You don't have time to consider thoughts of "gee whiz I wonder if it would 
look better in colour? Slide or negative?" Or you may have the direct 
opposite and be shooting only Kodachrome! You only think about the subjects 
and how well you have documented their lives! Like I said before....... 
"IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CONTENT!"

You are sent or given assignments because you are a silent observer and 
capture the life or lives of your subjects with no other thoughts but? 
Bringing home perfect images illustrating what happens with as much story 
telling impact as possible! And the type of film has no bearing on your 
immediate project, but success of the images!

This diddly back and forth jabberwocky seen here the past couple of days 
re... colour - B&W is nothing more than an utter waste of time if one is a 
professional photojournalist! What's worse ?  That I'm stupid enough to get 
pissed off and waste my time answering it! If I didn't have the real life 
day to day years after years real time actually living it? I suppose I 
wouldn't care about this as much as I do!

But some of you guys twiddle on about some of the most innocuous drivel that 
has nothing to do with real life as a professional photographer, it's quite 
revolting at times! !

There are quite a number of the crew who have purchased my medical books all 
shot in B&W! Let alone the countless hundreds of medical people and not one 
comment about shooting any of it in colour! WHY? The books are B&W because 
the subject is so powerful in  B&W that if shot in colour?

The colours become an absolute distraction! How do I know?? Quite simple 
really. Because I have shot hundreds of rolls in colour and when you are 
mixing various coloured OR sterile clothes, locations and whatever other 
tidbits of colour in an OR? You do not look at the impact of the content! 
PERIOD! It's all the brilliant lighting and colours constantly distracting 
your vision!

And for those of you who have never opened one of my medical books? Then 
maybe you should and see what real B&W available light as you see it Leica 
photography is all about! Maybe you'll learn something when you can ask 
questions of the still living photographer! Instead of re-hashed stories 
about some long dead character.

have a nice day!

Dr. ted



 



Replies: Reply from kanner at acm.org (Herbert Kanner) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)
In reply to: Message from manolito at videotron.ca (EPL) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)
Message from tedgrant at shaw.ca (tedgrant at shaw.ca) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)
Message from steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)
Message from ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)
Message from steve.barbour at gmail.com (Steve Barbour) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)
Message from ricc at embarqmail.com (Ric Carter) ([Leica] Color vs B&W)