Sunday, March 24, 2019

Black and White


Margaret Bourke-White

From where I sit the most memorable photographs are decidedly photojournalistic. That they are predominantly black and white is certain. When I asked in a recent blog, “Do you prefer the color of black and white version of the same image” your responses were all over the map. Most of you leaned toward black and white but preferred one or two of the photographs in color. One respondent was ambivalent. How is that possible I ask you.


Margaret Bourke-White

August Sander


My take-away is that people either prefer black and white or prefer color and that’s that. It’s about as polarized as American politics. In fact, during Friday’s Spanish group our peerless leader Linda Thompson said. “I just prefer color.” Whether that’s a function of living with an outstanding color photographer, her husband Terry Thompson, or a deeper-seated affliction I can but wonder.


Gary Winogrand

Lewis Hine


Linda asked me, “Why do you like black and white?”


“Well, I said, “Black and white strips the image down to its essentials and reveals the design of the picture. And black and white lends gravitas and importance to a photograph. It’s richer and timeless.”


Chuck Fawns across the table nodded his agreement and added, “That’s especially so if there’s an historic element to the image.”


Elliot Erwitt

Dorothea Lange


Since I was in the throes of deciding what to post this week, and also needed a subject for the next issue of Shadow and Light magazine I began examining the photographs that resonate with me. In revisiting the images I’ve revered over the decades I found that they are in the photojournalistic vein and hew to environmental portraiture and street photography. When an image makes the leap from reportage to “Art” it joins the pantheon of giants. Just how that happens is a mystery. It simply does.


W. Eugene Smith



Here are but a few. In a few hours, I identified dozens that are unforgettable. Many you will recognize though I left out the most obvious examples. And, yes students, they are all black and white.
Andre Kertesz


All are about people in places. All tell a story. All are beautifully framed. All have or will stand the test of time. There were worthy images so dark I couldn’t bear to display them. So grim they’d send you down the rabbit hole of despair and into a lifetime of therapy.

All capture human emotion. They are of people. They are of the human condition. They illuminate. They are forever.


Walker Evans


Lewis Hine aimed his lens at the depravity of child labor. Margaret Bourke White, Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith, Walker Evans and others captured the Depression era in wrenching human terms. August Sander photographed workers in Germany between the World Wars. All of them and many more who are equally worthy told us their stories.

All capture the human condition with insight and precision. They illuminate. They are forever.

And finally,


Martin Parr. And to think I said all black and white

All but Elliott Erwitt, now ninety, and Martin Parr have departed. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love this post. It tackles the old adage "To each his own." ..... Having said that, give me black and white, at least most of the time....I think.....

Blacks Crossing said...

Great minds, as they say. We both struggled with themes for today's blogs and what did we turn to? The subject of portraiture, and particularly environmental portraiture. I do love black and white for photo journalism and for some of the same reasons you do. They are clean and revealing at the deepest level, but sometimes, color rules the days. Interesting that Linda Thompson and Fred both like color. Of course, weaving with it every day keeps the eye thinking in color. But thank you for this post of truly great photographers and subject matter, and your writing about how black and white works for you.

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