Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2013/07/08

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Subject: [Leica] Mr. B. D. Colen speaks
From: rgacpa at gmail.com (Robert Adler)
Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2013 20:19:26 -0700
References: <51D9E523.1040103@threshinc.com>

Or in my case, if a debit is better than a credit... ;-)
Depends if you're a balance sheet or income statement kind of person!


On Sun, Jul 7, 2013 at 3:01 PM, Peter Klein <pklein at threshinc.com> wrote:

> To ask whether black and white or color is superior is like asking whether
> a string quartet is "better" than a full orchestra. It's almost a
> meaningless question. You can say what you prefer, you can say that this
> one or that one works better in certain situations.
>
> I shoot both. Digital is great because I don't have to limit myself when
> shooting.  I let the picture tell me whether it wants to be in B&W.
>
> I think this shot works both ways. But I prefer a tighter crop with the
> B&W.  With the color, I want to see the green field with other couples on
> it.
>
> <http://www.flickr.com/photos/**24844563 at 
> N04/9231959705/<http://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563 at N04/9231959705/>
> >
> <http://www.flickr.com/photos/**24844563 at 
> N04/9221845714/<http://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563 at N04/9221845714/>
> >
>
> I generally do prefer B&W for people pictures. I think it helps remove
> other distractions and focus attention on the people, as B.D. said.  There
> is also something beautiful and special about black and white.  Perhaps
> that's because I spent many hours looking at old Life Magazines and books
> of the great photojournalists when I was young.  I've noticed that many
> thirty or fortysomething Americans prefer color, but my Russian and Eastern
> European friends of the same age almost always prefer my B&W shots. Maybe
> we just like the visual language we learned as kids, just as most of us
> prefer the popular music from our childhood and teen years.
>
> When you're in places like Tina's Central America or Jayanand's India,
> color is such an overwhelming part of what you see, so it begs to be used.
>
> Still, I have to ask this:  Tina, I'm thinking of your wonderful grainy
> B&W Noctilux shots in Central American huts, often by firelight.  They have
> a specialness in part because they are B&W. Suppose you had an M(240) back
> then, or something else that could take decent photos at ISO 3200 or 6400.
>  Would you have used color?
>
> --Peter
>
> Quoth Jay Burleson:
>
> > With Dr. Ted's famous quote used to sum it all up...
> > http://www.the.me/b-d-colen-**on-the-distraction-of-color-**
> the-subject-is-black-and-**white/#ixzz2YKfnZYo6<http://www.the.me/b-d-colen-on-the-distraction-of-color-the-subject-is-black-and-white/#ixzz2YKfnZYo6>
> > --
> > Jay,
> >
> > Jay Burleson Gallery 
> > <http://jayburleson.com/leica/**gallery/index.php/<http://jayburleson.com/leica/gallery/index.php/>
> >
> > "A photographer is simply someone who is
> > looking for something that can't be found.
> > The photograph is the record of that attempt."
>
>
> ______________________________**_________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See 
> http://leica-users.org/**mailman/listinfo/lug<http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug>for
>  more information
>



-- 
Bob Adler


In reply to: Message from pklein at threshinc.com (Peter Klein) ([Leica] Mr. B. D. Colen speaks)