Monochrome I

"Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still."

-Dorothea Lange

Monochrome: the state or condition of being painted, decorated, etc., in shades of a single color.

This next series of photographs is entitled "Monochrome", versus "Black and White". Monochrome by its very definition encompasses a much broader swath for interpretation, thus allowing for greater expression within subject matter. The first photo below is an example.

It was converted from a color photo to an old-style photo process called Old Plate. If this series were labeled Black and White, then technically it couldn't have been included, due to the fact that not only black and shades of gray are present, but also sepia-like tones are expressed. If it were converted to a simple black and white instead of Old Plate, I think it would have lost that feeling of transposing oneself out to the "Old Wild West".

I love black and white and monochrome photography. Color can be rather confusing and distracting at times in a photo. Strip away color from the right photo and what buds forth is the soul, its underlying essence and structure - architecture if you will - of the subject; captured in that moment of time and space.

Not all photos lend themselves to monochromatic conversion. There need to be several factors present in order to make a good candidate.

Structure: Differences and nuances of color can both confuse and mask the underlying shape and composition of your subject. The first photo below for instance of the dead juniper is unremarkable as a color photo.The intense reddish-orange of the Moab sand, coupled with the green foliage of the surrounding bushes - all enveloped by a beautiful blue sky, pulled the eye away from the dead cypress in the middle of the photo. But suddenly, after being transformed into a monochrome photograph, the dead and dry branches manifest themselves more clearly and one can discover and enjoy the grace, complexity and intricacy of the twigs and branches of the otherwise dead and dusty tree.

Composition: Strip away color, and straightaway one begins to realize the relationship of objects in a photograph to one and another.

Contrast: Differences between dark and light, shade and brightness are critical in monochrome photography. Black on one end with white balancing on the other play very important roles, for without them, all one would have is varying shades of gray.

To be good candidates for conversion, a capture needs the basics of good photographic technique such as contrast, composition, subject matter, light (or lack there of), and perspective, to name a few. Contrast especially can make or break a monochrome photo. One of the more important aspects in this form of expression via photography though is tonality. Hue is the color. Saturation is the purity/intensity of the color. Tone is the degree of lightness and darkness, or Luminosity.

Convert a photo to b&w, and suddenly the dark green foliage surrounding the bright red flower converge, causing the flower to lose itself in the foliage due to the tones being similar in appearance and therefor meld. Red and green are opposites on the color wheel, but turn them to black and white and suddenly the flower is lost within the leaves, for the tones converge, although the colors are on opposite ends of the spectrum.

Conversely, a yellow flower nestled within the same green foliage will stand out from its background, basking in its own tonality. In order for a photograph to become a good candidate for conversion, differences in tonality, not just differences in color are extremely important.

Dead Cypress. Old Plate photographic interpretation. Shot in Arches National Park, Utah, I was struck by the starkness of the dead tree and the complexity of its twigs and branches. Although seemingly in chaos, Fractal design in nature is quite evident here. Design is the key word: with design, one would have to logically infer that one needs a designer, to... well... design, for out of chaos comes cosmos. Detonating a bundle of TNT will not produce a wristwatch, no matter how many eons one has to try it in. Food for thought.

 

Escondido Center for the Performing Arts. Escondido, California. Escondido is home to a wonderful cultural center where art and sculpture are exhibited, concerts and plays are performed, and other cultural events are showcased. I like the simple geometry of its architecture, especially this section of it. To me, an amalgam of Roman architecture and of "Metropolis", the 1927 silent German expressionist science fiction film of the future somewhat manifests itself within the lines, arches and angles of the building. The contrast in this photo was really goosed in order to emphasize its structural features.

Mailbox Row. Amusing in black and white. "Myeh" in color.

R.I.P. Had some fun with this one. One afternoon when I was at home, I spotted and saved this fly carcass from the dire straits of having been spotted and subsequently swallowed by my cat. Instead, it is now center stage in the photo above. I retrieved it off of the floor, placed it on the kitchen counter and then added a fly swatter to the background. Ta-da! We now have a whimsical little story in the form of a picture.

I was visiting Julian once with a photography club I belong to. Towards the end of our visit, one of the members thought that casting silhouettes on the wall of the old Julian jailhouse would be cool. We spent almost an hour shooting various people in various poses. This photo is one of my favorites of the series.

Bodie, California. Situated east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, between the resort area of June Lake and the town of Bridgeport off of Hwy. 395, sits the ghost town of Bodie. I converted this photo to sepia and added some film grain in order to mimic a photographic technique used during the heyday of this once thriving mining town.