I wish people would stop thinking that street shot have to be in black and white!!!
As I wrote before in an interview...
I enjoyed Obsidian-Fox's new article [link] . It explained why street photography needed to be in black and white before. Technology has changed and now there is no reason to automatically convert every street pic to black and white anymore. Since I was inspired by the Life magazine photographers some of my all time favorite photos are in black and white, but that is pretty well because they had to be. Those reasons no longer apply.
Sure Im sure there are some cases where black and white suits the pic, but I think those situations are rare nowadays. I think street photography more than any other photography should represent what was captured as close to reality as possible. In real life we do not see in black and white so in a way presenting a picture in black and white is lying. It is at least only telling part of the story, the part that does not involve the color that existed in real life.
I'd like to suggest that by removing insignificant detail, b&w essentializes, synthesises, brings us back to what originally drew us to the photo. Graphically, it might not be as close to what we saw, but emotionally, it just might.
That sounds demeaning. How about details without particular significance. I'm not saying that colour as a whole is insignificant, but I do think that it often (specially in street) has very little to do with the essence of a situation, and that the attention it commands can, in those circumstances, become distracting.
I shoot black & white as an artistic choice. In the street there is such a variety of color that it often translates into visual confusion in an image.
Devious Comments
So I just wanted to know what the community thinks what defines street photography.
I wish people would stop thinking that street shot have to be in black and white!!!
As I wrote before in an interview...
I enjoyed Obsidian-Fox's new article [link] . It explained why street photography needed to be in black and white before. Technology has changed and now there is no reason to automatically convert every street pic to black and white anymore. Since I was inspired by the Life magazine photographers some of my all time favorite photos are in black and white, but that is pretty well because they had to be. Those reasons no longer apply.
Sure Im sure there are some cases where black and white suits the pic, but I think those situations are rare nowadays. I think street photography more than any other photography should represent what was captured as close to reality as possible. In real life we do not see in black and white so in a way presenting a picture in black and white is lying. It is at least only telling part of the story, the part that does not involve the color that existed in real life.
b&w simplifies things.
single
BTW, why is b&w important?