Based On A True Story...: B&W in Color

Friday, July 28, 2017

B&W in Color

Photo: © S. Banos

NO, no, no- not gonna go there: B&W vs. color, digital vs. analog, Coke vs. Pepsi, etc, etc... Fool's errand each and every one. Just gonna point out two instances in which the prescribed and obvious choice is... not necessarily the best. A coupla years ago I was honored to have the photo below selected for Random Excellence over at The Online Photographer. Someone immediately pointed out that it failed because it should have been in color. And it certainly would have been colorful at that, with the Red, White and Blue and... just about everything else thrown in for good measure- exactly why I was happy to see it in monochrome, putting everything in equal measure, without the circus kaleidoscope of color.

Meanwhile, everyone knows that repetitive graphics and geometric patterns and shadows are the inherent domain of B&W. It's the sensuous, yet subdued, color however that most definitely brings the square format photo above to life, in what would have otherwise made for a most pedestrian exercise in B&W 101.

Photo: © S. Banos

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