Monthly Archives: February 2018

What about Black and White photography?    

Posted by enmanscamera on

A fellow stopped by my shop this past week to see what kind of film cameras I was selling. I don’t think he was planning on a purchase as much as he was interested to see if there were still film cameras available and, likely, just wanted to kill some time in a warm shop after wandering along the freezing street.

He began by saying he missed the days when he would load his camera with Black and White film and go out for the day. I laughed and said there is no reason you can’t still do that. “You just have to set your digital camera to black and white only mode. ” Then added, “of course I prefer to convert my images to Black and White in post.”

I remember those days (Not so fondly I may add) when I would always carry two cameras to photograph a wedding or a family. One would be loaded with colour film and the other with black and white.  I placed a bright sticker on one camera so I would remember which had which film. And when I went on vacation I also would carry two cameras, one with black and white and one with slide film.

Always toting two cameras, and always changing lenses! Gosh, what a hassle lugging a big case with two cameras, lenses and bags of film.

I knew that fellow was just being nostalgic so I didn’t say any of that, but I sure thought about it and how much easier I have it now.  He commented how much he liked black and white photographs and said he still has enlargements he made years ago hanging on his walls.

I also share is love for black and white prints. There are eight framed photographs that my wife and I made hanging on my walls. Including one that’s 3 feet by 4 feet. And there is even a B&W framed poster by Alfred Stieglitz on the wall behind the computer.

I agreed with him when he said that he thought that, black and white photographs, “convey a mood that stretches the imagination” and he mentioned that he admired several of the B&W portraits I have hanging in my shop.

That was a perfect time for me to quote Photojournalist Ted Grant, who is regarded as Canada’s premier living photographer, “When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their souls!”

In an article in June of 2014 I wrote. “A black and white photograph depends on its ability to communicate, it doesn’t need to rely on eye-catching colours for its’ visual presentation. Those B&W images that stand and pass the test of time combine attention to subtle changes in light, composition, and perspective. And it stretches our creativity and forces us to visualize our world in different terms.”

I wouldn’t want to be limited to shooting black and white any more than I would want to be limited to only using one lens. Some images just seem stronger in colour. However, if I can again repeat what I also wrote in that 2014 article, “I remember a photographer once saying that he believed shooting in B&W refined one’s way of seeing. And I heartily agree.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An early morning photo challenge                                         

Posted by enmanscamera on

My friend, neighbour, and photo pal Jo decided to give herself an early morning photo challenge. That meant after feeding her kids, 6 dogs, making sure her 13 year old son is ready for school and greeting her tired husband after his long night shift, she quickly sneaks out with her camera to create artistic images out of normally uninspiring objects she finds close to her rural home.

I first knew Jo was taking this challenge on when she texted me a picture of deer chomping on her neighbour’s bushes one morning. She casually added a close-up of snow that had drifted around a small tree trunk. I was thrilled with how she captured the play of light and shadow on something most photographers would walk past.

The mundane, normal features people ignore along the snow laden winter neighbourhood street as they dash from their warm homes, coffee in hand to jump in their cold cars, and join the morning battalion on the icy highway, are Jo’s chosen subjects.

I wonder what people think as they look out their windows at Jo all bundled up, holding her camera in gloved hands as she wanders the vacant streets. I can imagine her dodging oncoming cars as they slip along the icy snow packed street.

What those drivers are thinking when they see her standing calf deep in the snow, photographing a tree branch.

I’ll add this first quote by the iconic American photographer Annie Leibovitz, “The camera makes you forget you’re there. It’s not like you are hiding but you forget, you are just looking so much.”

I like her words, and I am pretty sure that most serious photographers get lost in the moment when they look into a scene searching to create interest out of some normally unremarkable object.

Of all the photography challenges people post on the many social media sites I think I like this one the most. It is hard for us to find interest in the world we walk by everyday. And forcing oneself to be creative with some unremarkable subject is a struggle, let alone wandering around on a cold February morning just after sun up.

I asked Jo why she likes to meander around with her camera in the early morning. She wasn’t sure, and at first only said, “because its peaceful”. However, I think there is more to that kind of challenge than searching for a peaceful moment. I know her enough to say that she is demanding in her photography, and is always exploring alternatives.

Photography is such an exciting medium that lets us examine the world around us in our own personal way. This kind of photographer’s challenge does just that.

I’ll end this with a couple quotes by Depression era photojournalist Dorothea Lange who wrote, “A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.” And she also wrote “To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting, and often false.”

A snowy walk to Chase Falls

Posted by enmanscamera on

 

The day was grey, flat and cold. but, I was bored with watching TV and wanted to get out and put some footprints in the snow.

I lazily thought about wandering the deep snow in my yard or just taking a drive on the slushy roads above my home. However, I hadn’t visited the nearby Chase falls since a hot day in July and I thought it would be fun to see if there was any water coming over the falls.

When I visited the falls last summer I was joined by my photographer friend, Jo McAvany. I remember Jo loudly complaining about the mosquitos on that hot dry summer day. So I called her and asked if she wanted to trudge through the two-foot deep snow up to the falls and promised the mosquitos wouldn’t be too bad this time of year.

I don’t know what kind of deal she made with her husband on his day off work, but she said, “sure I want to go”.

As I thought, the trail into the falls hadn’t been tramped down by people, and other than foot prints of a lonely racoon that I expect has a warren somewhere in the river canyon to hide in when he’s not marauding garbage cans in the tiny town of Chase, we were breaking trail.

Last July Jo complained about the mosquitos. However, this time it was me complaining that I should have worn high top boots because the snow that filled my short-topped boots left little room for my feet.

I would have liked to climb down to the falls, but the snow hid all the boulders and caution said venturing beyond the trees might end in a very cold bath.

Jo had mounted a 24-105mm on her camera and I had my trusty 24-70mm on mine. We both had put longer lenses in my backpack, but the wide-angle lenses were the most comfortable to use.

The day was mostly cloudy and flat, but every now and then things lightened up just a bit. Not enough to create shadows, but at times there were highlights on protruding rocks, tree limbs and the water.

On a bright day one always struggles with overexposure on a waterfall. I prefer a slight overcast or a foggy day, and I did get some reasonable photographs of Chase Falls this time. Bright sun, deep shadows, a scene with too much contrast or mosquitos didn’t bother me this time. But just a bit more light (and less freezing snow in my boots) would have been nice.

Over the past forty years have visited those falls at least once in every season, and I can’t begin to count or even remember all the different cameras I have pointed at the falls and the surrounding area in that small canyon.

There has been lots of change as the canyon errodes, logs and boulders are swept over the falls and trees and foliage grow taller and denser. I am hoping to be making that short walk each season for at least ten more years.