Black and White, Reflections on the fourth week of 52

Here is the description for the Black and White theme:

You may get home with a memory card full of photos (or a roll of film?) ready to be uploaded onto your computer and tweaked with an editing program – each of them characterized by the vibrant pinks and golds and blues of nature. Then you think, I am going to bleed all of those colours out and make a really nice black and white composition that will be the envy of all my friends and coworkers. However, you may come across that photo where you automatically go to drain out all the colour, and find that, hey, there was never any colour to begin with – you are attempting to squeeze blood (of the most vibrant red) from an inherently black and white stone.

That is the challenge this week. Can you find some detail, some place in Windsor or the County where you need to edit as little as possible, and that you can still call “black and white?”

Okay, yes, there is so much colour in this beautiful world of ours, but sometimes if you really want to get at that contrast, or see things in a different way – maybe even add a touch of class to whatever has caught your attention – you need to just get rid of that colour and reduce it to blacks, whites, and greys. Some beautiful shots came in this week, really the most so far since starting in early January. I am happy to see that people are taking up the challenge and contributing.

There is something a little more flexible with this theme. The previous suggestions have been a little more constrained to physical objects (ie. bridges, tunnels, public spaces in their off hours), but this one people had free rein. You can be creative with anything, but this time I really did not know what I would see. That’s a good feeling. 

Memorial Park by Kate Klinck Photography

What did I see than? The first and last shots that came in were beautiful macro captures of snow flakes – tis the season – that really brought out the beauty of our Windsor – Essex crystallized water quite nicely. And though there were more shots of the blankets of snow that we have received recently, I was happy to see lighthouses, light switches, swans, boats, and church details. 

Snowflakes by Christian Kuong

Simple and perfect ... snowflakes by Laura Arce

I figured that it was going to be a good week for the “advanced level” of the challenge, namely encouraging people to find the whites and blacks occurring “naturally” in the world without needing to drain all that colour in the digital darkroom. An honourable mention goes to Frank Shepley who embraced the challenge and captured a black and white cat on a grey background. The little hints of colour – the pink of its ears and the green of its eyes – make it a lovely composition. For mine, I was lucky enough to be able to stop by the river during last week’s snow when the world went grey and the Detroit skyline disappeared into it. The slash of white and the greyish blue of the water helped me take on the challenge, whether or not I was “successful.”  Admittedly, I did take out some of the colour, but not as much as I could have. 

In black and white by Frank Shepley

A slash of white by Patrick Firth

Week 5 will let you stay inside the house and capture the miniature world that exists there through your Knick Knacks and Baubles.

Happy shooting, and once again, feel free to include any story about the shot if you want me to share it on the blog. Find updates and pictures on Facebook and Flickr.

 Lighthouse by Tim Fenn
(Lakeview Park Marina in Windsor. It was taken on Sat. Jan. 31st with a Sony A37 SLR digital camera)