Black and White Challenge
Last week I was tagged for the Black and White Challenge by Kial James (@kialjames on Instagram). Post five b&w photos in five days. I am reluctant to give myself more quests, but this one was short enough and novel enough that I took the inspiration and ran (shot?) with it. Confession- I don't photograph with b&w in mind. Color tends to catch my eye. Over the five days, I found myself looking at the world anew, with an eye for lines and contrast.
Day one: Foggy pines.
I could have posted older photos, but I don't have a big library of b&w images. And I had fun looking for subjects that leaned toward b&w storytelling.
Day 2: our black cat, Lucy, who was feral until last month. She had a dramatic abdominal injury. While recuperating inside, she realized that warm and cozy is awesome. She's become the biggest cuddle-cat.
Day three: Cousin time! Boys at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. I did watch for lines while wandering the museum (which is awesome in its new location).
Day Four: Mermaid. Finding a b&w image from our mermaid shoot was a challenge. Again, I was drawn to colors in the water, and the tail! Except another story is told when the image becomes b&w. The rings in the water and her mussed hair suggest that she's not going to stay for long.
Day 5: Isla. I visited with my friend. We had a mission to create holiday cards. Her daughter had a mission to play. Play. Play. In my twenty-third attempt to distract her, I took photos with my phone, then showed them to her. She was pretty impressed with the novelty for about six seconds :)
The collection inspired me to lean into b&w more often. I would get an image all pretty. I thought it was the same tone and processing as the ones before it. Then I would post to discover different color casts (the blue casts and sepia and drama). B&w has the same range of expression that is found in color photos. So I want to play more with the intention of creating memorable b&w images. Not just throw a b&w here and there because it's fun to mix up my habits. I want to really pay attention to my storytelling and imagery in b&w. And maybe I'll find a more consistent processing style. Or maybe I'll keep playing :)
