#photography

WHY BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY?

 

What is the purpose of black and white photography?

I admit…I wasn’t sure when I started this task…

but after spending 7 days exploring…

it’s a question I no longer ask.

 

Take a child for instance…filmed in black and white

you see her innocence…her grace…

Emptied of all its color and hue

the camera captures childhood…there…on her face.

 

We see her sitting in the grass with a smile on her lips

as the sun on her cheek adds a sheen.

We look into her eyes…and it’s there we discover

exactly what childhood means.

 

Childhood is eating moon pies..it’s chocolate…

It’s splashing barefoot in a cool mountain stream…

It’s catching fireflies around a campfire.

It’s climbing trees and eating ice cream.

 

It’s picking flowers because you like their color.

Its putting pennies on the tracks of a train.

It’s catching snowflakes on the tip of your tongue.

It’s dancing…outside…in the rain…

 

It’s getting dirty…it’s chasing butterflies…

It’s playing tag with the waves at the shore…

Yes, in her eyes we can see how her childhood

are all these things…

all these things…and so many more…

 

I wonder if that is the purpose of black and white photography…

perhaps that is its goal…

In color you capture a subject’s presence…

 

In black and white…you can capture their soul.


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THE PHOTOGRAPHER

I took a week-long class on photography…actually the whole week was a blur

as I learned about ISO, F-stops…exposures…zoom lenses and apertures.

 

Okay…perhaps most of that complicated information…I did not quite amass

but I’m proud to say at the end of the week…I did complete the class!

 

I knew my camera knowledge was sketchy when I first decided to go

but it took a class In photography to discover how much I didn’t know.

 

Still… we had a wonderful teacher 

who served as our photographical guide…

and we spent most of our time taking pictures 

in the North Carolina countryside.

 

I did pick up some camera facts…but mostly what I found

Is how taking pictures tends to slow you down…

it makes you stop and look around.

 

And when you slow yourself down (not only in photography)

You are amazed at all the beauty surrounding you

and the wonders you will see.

 

And you want to catch that wonder…before the light changes and it’s gone

So as you slowly walk and view the world…

you’re camera’s always on…

 

Because what I learned in my class…in my week of photography

Was how to capture a moment in time…for all eternity.

 

And if I can capture that moment…for friends and family to see…

Then I don’t have to be the best photographer in the world…

Just the best one I can be.

 

So after a week in my photography class…

I’m only a little better than when I walked in through the door…

but I am slowing down, I’m seeing the world differently…

and I’m taking pictures like never before..

 

Photography does have its rules and its guidelines

But when all is said and done…

The goal of photography, (this I also learned in class)

 

Is to take lots of pictures and have some fun


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