MONOCHROME - A Black and White Perspective
One of the things that I’ve been enjoying with the monthly themes in the WildArt POTY competition is not only watching how you, our competition entrants, interpret each theme, but also how it reveals large gaps in my own repertoire. Last month’s ABSTRACTS theme was a good example, and I didn’t think I had much to offer for that category until I had a really detailed look at my own back catalogue and was surprised by how experimental I have been at times. There were certainly more than one or two hidden gems that would have made interesting entries, images good enough to have tempted me to have a go at the competition.
MONOCHROME is a category that, at first glance, would be difficult for me too as I don’t tend to convert many wildlife images to black and white. I’ve done it plenty of times with landscapes and it works well, but I don’t automatically consider the same treatment for some of my wildlife images.
Some of you may have seen the Facebook live interview I did with David Tipling, the judge for MONOCHROME. If you haven’t seen it, then it is well worth a watch - I’ve embedded the video in this blog. David gives some invaluable tips, and inspired by his advice, I set to looking through some of my images for suitable conversion candidates with competition entries in mind.
Below are some of the images I came up with. There’s nothing in this selection to rival David’s work in my view, and that makes me want to think in black and white more often when I am working with wildlife and improve on what I’ve previously produced. The main point David had stressed throughout our discussion was that if an image didn’t work in colour, then it was unlikely to do so in black and white either. It is not a medium in which to try and salvage a mediocre photograph, something I have to confess of being guilty of in the past – a black and white conversion usually a last resort with some images.
Stripping away the colour in the photograph leaves nowhere for the image to hide; it’s all about the form, texture, lighting and composition. Less is more it seems with this medium, and the simple images seem to work best. Why not have a good look through your images and see if you can challenge yourself to produce something stunning in black and white? You never know, you may come up with a winner. And even if you don’t, perhaps this will inspire you to consider processing images in this way more often. I know it has already had that effect on my own work. Photography competitions are not just about winning, they are a great way to learn, be inspired by the work of others, and challenge yourself to produce fresh and innovative work.
The very best of luck to you all and I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Rob Read. July 2021.
