View Full Version : A Good Quote about B&W
julianphotoart
05-11-2007, 20:20
A nice quote seen in this month's Popular Photographer:
"Black and white are the colours of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected"---Robert Frank
My favorite is a paraphrase of Kennedy's statement about power. "Color corrupts and absolute color corrupts absolutely." Eddie Adams? Of course, nobody HAS to agree... I happily shoot color, too.
Regards!
Don
amateriat
05-12-2007, 20:36
"Color distracts, black-and-white distills." That one's mine. Of course, to quote Traffic, there are always exceptions.
- Barrett
Somebody famous (maybe Weston?), circa the late 1960's-
"Color photography is vulgar."
Limpovitj
05-13-2007, 04:58
Somebody famous (maybe Weston?), circa the late 1960's-
"Color photography is vulgar."
It was Walker Evans.
Colour seems to force one to look at the surface of subjects. The abstraction of B+W creates the illusion of being able to see deeper. FS
When you take a photo in color you get pretty pictures of there clothes. If you take images in B&W you get little glimpses into there souls.
I took a 3/4 profile of my granddaughter in color. Sweet, passive, slight smile. Very nice. When converted to BW she look sad and I dumped it. I hope the above is not always true.
Sorry, no example, it's in my archives someplace.
Limpovitj-
Thanks... I couldn't think who said that to save my life, only when it was said and that it tickles me.
350D_user
05-13-2007, 10:19
"Great photography is about the visual effect upon the viewer, not sharpness"
www.cameraquest.com
Black n white vs colour? Faster PP -less complex white balance and profiling issues!
shadowfox
05-16-2007, 08:26
I took a 3/4 profile of my granddaughter in color. Sweet, passive, slight smile. Very nice. When converted to BW she look sad and I dumped it. I hope the above is not always true.
Sorry, no example, it's in my archives someplace.
Take heart, I took an noisy (iso 1600) digital picture of my daughter with her milk bottle, turn it into b/w and immediately the lack of color made her eyes draw mine in and wow!
That picture becomes one of my favorite. :D
The Black and White photograph has a timeless quality, not found in a Color photograph.
This quote has been floating around RFF for a while.
"When I want to show you something, I use color. When I want to tell you something, I use black and white."
I still have not seen it put any better than that.
I don't, and I doubt anyone does.
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