Someone mentioned on a rather well known, social media
website recently that the only real photography was black and white. This, I
decided, was quite a statement.
Still, judging by the flurry of comments said statement
received, there seem to be plenty out there who would agree with this.
So, I started giving it some thought.
In years gone by, and in fact, when I was still a
teenager myself, black and white was all that was available unless you were one
of those enviable souls who had enough money to make colour transparencies. In
those days, colour was a luxury in photography. People who made colour slides,
as they were known, were so thrilled with the results, they showed them off at
parties. They set up projectors in darkened rooms. They invited friends and
family to view a feast of photos and all were in awe at the beauty of these
rare, and coloured, images.
Black and white? Well that was normal - boring even.
When I went to art college, then, black and white was
still the only medium available. This was in the late 1970's. My photography
course was designed to teach me to make beautiful studio photos. I
wasn't very good at it, actually. In fact, I was rather ignominiously thrown
off the course.
The thing was I had a real problem with dark rooms. I've
always kind of figured that if we were meant to do things in the dark, he who
designed us would have given us a few helpers - like built-in night vision, or
some such - but no such luck. I for one seemed to have less aptitude than most
when it came to working blind. It was awful. We had to fumble
around putting sensitive 6 x 4.5 sheets of film in these flimsy holders ready
to go in the back of the camera. All in the dark. The trouble was, I couldn't
feel whether I'd only got one sheet or more, and dark was really dark, so
seeing anything was impossible. When on one occasion I succeeded in putting
four sheets of expensive film in a holder meant for one, and then getting it
jammed in the school’s best camera, my long suffering tutor propelled me none
too gently from the class and suggested, even less gently, that I should find
some other pursuit that didn't involve using anything more expensive than a
pencil.
I hasten to add this had nothing to do with my artistic
and creative abilities. I was merely, how can I say, technologically
challenged.
The point is, though, no one thought of black and white
photography as being particularly arty or special because that was all there
was. For sure, photography students did wonderfully arty things with photos,
and because of the lack of colour, they played with grain and shadows and depth
of field to make these potentially boring photos more interesting (okay, strike
me dead now for my blasphemy).
So what about today? Well, now it seems that if you want
to be taken seriously as an artist in phtogoraphy, you absolutely, totally, and
without any doubt have to do it in black and white. What I want to know is -
why?
The thing is, I've watched a photographer or two at
work. I happen to spend rather a lot of time with a particularly talented one. One of my first serious relationships was also with a photographer, so I’ve had a bit of time
to observe these things. From what I can see, the real skill is in getting that
perfect colour shot. It seems to be incredibly challenging to find the right
balance of darks and lights, blues, reds and other hues. I watch in awe as Koos checks his histograms carefully to make sure his settings are just right for
that best of colour shots. And judging by the response he receives, most people think he's pretty good at it.
But sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes, the colours
just aren't right, or they're all the same. Sometimes, these photos are a
failure. The image is good, but the colour is bad and what's worse, there's
that dreaded enemy of the digital photographer. Noise.
So what to do? Well, I know... and I suspect you do
too. Now. The great solution that covers a multitude of sins and mistakes. Make
it black and white. The histograms drop neatly into an almost straight blue
line, the noise looks interestingly grainy and the imperfections are all
instantly erased. Brilliant.
But what does this say about art? Not a lot really, and
even less about the skill needed for great artistic photos.
Indeed, in the end, the message of this story is simple:
if the colour ain't right, make it black and white.
Now tell me what the only real photography is...
