[Leica] Black and White

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

My answer is "coloured", but I "mostly" prefer the series in b/w. Why? 
Ok, firstly, the colour images can distract you from the emotion of the 
people. You have used mostly muted tones, which suit the series, but it 
can still get in the way during a series. When I hang images in my 
"gallery" (the 2 meter wide hallway Helen once thought of as a waste of 
space) I find it is hard to mix b/w with colour, but even harder to mix 
colour images which on their own look good, but whose obvious colour 
temperature/balance differences make visual clashes. Your work is 
focused on the people, not their clothing, so in general, I like your 
work in b/w. That does not discount the value of the images as 
individuals in colour.

For me, a great colour image is using the colour for a reason. This is 
usually best when one colour is dominant. If an image contains all the 
colours of the rainbow, it becomes messy and confused. Graphic striking 
images focus attention whether they are in b/w or colour.

This is an image I think works in either b/w or colour

http://gallery.leica-users.org/album103/PAWextra

This is one which works fine in colour, but I prefer my b/w image

http://gallery.leica-users.org/album103/PAWextra003

Here I've tried to limit the colour palatte:

http://gallery.leica-users.org/album103/PAWextra006

Here the graphic patterns were more important to me than the "realism" 
of colour

http://gallery.leica-users.org/album103/PAWextra014

This is a colour image I prefer in b/w

http://gallery.leica-users.org/album103/PAWextra016

And here's one I'd rather forget ;-)

http://gallery.leica-users.org/album103/PAWextra035

Cheers
On 12/10/2005, at 11:22 AM, Tina Manley wrote:

> PAWs:
>
> I usually think of Guatemala in color, but somebody said that this 
> series might be better in black and white so I've posted it both ways.
> I'd really like to know which you prefer and why.
>
> http://www.pbase.com/tinamanley/san_pablo_bw
>
> Tina
>
>
> Tina Manley, ASMP
> http://www.tinamanley.com
>
>
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>
Alastair