[Leica] There is more to light than how bright it is...

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

At 05:27 PM 5/6/04 -0700, you wrote:
>For a much-needed antidote to this "B&W = truth" madness, see
><http://4020.net/unposed/critics.shtml#bw>
>For every hypothesis there is an anti-hypothesis.

Andrew:  Your antipothesis is well-written, well-expressed, and dead wrong  :-)

Seriously, I know what you mean about some people making an artsy-fartsy 
fetish of B&W.  However, I'm with Ted on this one.

There are plenty of visual media that don't rely on color.  Sculpture.  Pen 
and Ink.  Pencil or charcoal.  Bas-relief.  They didn't go away because 
color suddenly came along.

And your musical analogies are way off.  You're setting up a straw man by 
comparing monochrome photographs with music composed of a single 
pitch.  When we speak of color in music, we're talking about "tone color," 
meaning the thing that makes an oboe sound different from a violin or a 
piano.  A much more accurate analogy would be to compare B&W vs. color to a 
string quartet vs. a symphony orchestra.   I might note that many music 
lovers consider the string quartet to be the highest form of musical 
expression.

I shoot both B&W and color, just as I love both symphony and chamber 
music.  But I must admit a special affection for the supposedly simpler B&W 
and chamber music.  Sometimes when constructed within freely-accepted 
limits, the expression is more eloquent.

I think that the main reason why B&W is so effective with people is that 
color is like a powerful drug.  It dominates.  Eliminate it, and you're 
forced to concentrate on the rest of the elements.  Now you see what's in 
the eyes instead of the turquoise blouse or the orchid-print dress.

I spent last Friday night with some Russian friends whom I had photographed 
(on Tri-X with the 35/1.4 Asph) the last time we were together.  They were 
absolutely blown away.

They all remarked how great it was to see B&W, that "nobody in America does 
that anymore," and they missed it, because it was so much more expressive 
for pictures of people.  Part of this may have been nostalgia, as they were 
kids in the 50s and 60s, when most Russians shot B&W for family pics.  But 
they all agreed that it was more than that.  I quoted Ted Grant on clothes 
and souls, and they said, "Yes, exactly."

So Ted, if your ears were burning a week ago on Friday night, that's why.  :-)

--Peter Klein
Seattle, WA