[Leica] Black and White

[philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)]

See below


> From: "R. Clayton McKee" <leica@rcmckee.com>
> Organization: Freelance Photojournalist
> Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 15:27:06 -0500
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Black and White
> 
> On 12 Oct 2005 at 20:53, Philippe Orlent wrote:
> 
>> I don't think B&W has anything to do with traditionalism.
>> Just think 'Nachtwey': I'd call his work more timeless than
>> traditionalistic.
> 
> To me that's something of a distinction without a difference.
> I'm not saying that ALL B&W is by its nature traditionalist work, or
> that traditional work is exclusively B&W....  but photographers with
> a sensitivity to tradition will tend to be more... accepting, maybe?
> ... of B&W as a separate sort of thing rather than just desaturated
> color shots.
> 
> Nachtwey, both from how he works and what he says, seems to me to be
> VERY aware of the tradition he's working within.  Certainly he has a
> unique style, a visual language all his own, but he creates images
> that, like Salgado and others, are in essence straightforward
> documentary photographs.... timeless, because the subjects are
> timeless, but also traditional. Put Nachtwey's work beside Capa or
> Rodger or Haas or Bischof or Burrows, or even going back to Roger
> Fenton and Jimmy Hare, and the lineage is clear...
> 
> 
>> Not that I have anything against color, but in this case it seems to add 
>> an
>> exotic sense to the photographs, and I'm not sure if that is what Tina 
>> wants
>> to convey.
> 
> And this, I think, is where the viewer's world and experience come
> into play.  To you the color adds exoticism; to me it's just the
> reality of the situation.  I see this sort of color (and traditional
> Maya dress) every week if not every day, so for me it's beautiful,
> but not odd, and seeing people dressed this way doesn't trigger the
> National Geographic reflex so much. A bit, sure... but it's more
> setting than color; several of my neighbors are Guatemalan or
> Salvadoran.
> 
>> Karen's work is a different kind of photography: most of the photographs I
>> looked at have a very neutral, almost cold, color range,  which sticks
>> better to 'reportage' IMO than the vivid colors I see in Tina's work.
>> Maybe desaturating and shifting the colors a bit might help to keep the
>> 'more realistic' feeling one has looking at them in B&W.
> 
> The thing is that the colors Tina presents *are* accurate
> reportage... Dampening or desaturating them would itself be moving
> AWAY from reality.  Every few days I buy lunch at my front door from
> a lady who wears a very similar outfit when she makes her rounds
> selling home cooking.  (I don't buy because of the colors; she's a
> GOOD cook... lives one building over and her 8 year old daughter is
> always after me to "take me a picture of me and my baby brother..."
> Just neighbors.)
> 
> As I understand it the colors and patterns are meaningful; if you
> know how to "read" them you can get pretty accurate information about
> the origin and social status of the wearer, where they're from, and
> so forth....
> 
> Always interesting to see the different ways this sort of discussion
> goes, isn't it?--
> 
Yes, it most certainly is. The question also rises if the photos are meant
to be seen by those who know the culture and know how to interpret it, or by
those that have no clue about it.