Inspiration: The attention caught, the inspiration planted. A scene from Camp North End, Charlotte, N.C. I have looked at this as a B&W. The integration by the colors made the image...

Stephan G

The attention caught, the inspiration planted.

A scene from Camp North End, Charlotte, N.C.

I have looked at this as a B&W. The integration by the colors made the image stronger in the conversation involved.

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AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

I love it! I’ve always thought most Street photos were better in black and white. This is an exception.

Stunning. The story plays across more than one level, the composition is near perfect, and the colors add rather than subtract.

Andy

Stephan G

AndyH wrote:

I love it! I’ve always thought most Street photos were better in black and white. This is an exception.

Stunning. The story plays across more than one level, the composition is near perfect, and the colors add rather than subtract.

Andy

Thank you for the kind words.

deer2ker Loc: Nashville, TN

I agree - beautifully captured!

Voss

A good one.

Stephan G

deer2ker and Voss,

Thank you both for your kind words.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice work on this one.

Stephan G

jaymatt wrote:

Nice work on this one.

Appreciate it much. Thanks.

zzzynick Loc: Colorado

First off I like your shot.
It would not work in B&W
Just because street photography started when there was only B&W film, everyone thinks that's the way it should be.
That's b.s.
We see in color. Life is colorful.
We have digital cameras, instead of B&W film.
There are only a select few, that can produce a stunning shot in B&W.
I know I am not one of them, I did try though.
I also know, there isn't one of them on this site either.

Stephan G

zzzynick wrote:

First off I like your shot.
It would not work in B&W
Just because street photography started when there was only B&W film, everyone thinks that's the way it should be.
That's b.s.
We see in color. Life is colorful.
We have digital cameras, instead of B&W film.
There are only a select few, that can produce a stunning shot in B&W.
I know I am not one of them, I did try though.
I also know, there isn't one of them on this site either.

I appreciate your comments regarding the use of B&W vs Color. And thank you for your kind words.

I am one who started as a B&W type. I even have a B&W of myself taken after I was 3 months old.

Seriously though, photography is a tool to be applied, as in painting, which rests upon the communication the maker wishes to present. And, yes, we do not conform to any style when it comes to creating our own individual statements. Our perception of the world around us is simple and complex at the same time. What do we focus on to present our view?

For example, Joan Miro. See https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/miros-minimal-series-painting-on-white-background

We can see patterns, which can be distilled into B&W. There are several that I see in "Inspiration". But the Color does present a strong and integrated statement that I envisioned when I viewed the scene.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

zzzynick wrote:

I also know, there isn't one of them on this site either.

Someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

That's your opinion, but it's hardly fact. And there are a lot of other talented photographers, here, and elsewhwere, who would disagree with you.

After reading your dismissal of every street photographer, or perhaps every photographer, on this site, I went and looked at your portfolio of street shots. When you said it wasn't your specialty, I think you were understating the case.

I think it's fine to disagree on matters of taste, but stating opinion as fact in dismissing the work of others comes across as both rude and unnecessarily mean to me. Maybe you're just having a bad day, but I think your opinion condemming a whole genre in which you are a self-proclaimed "non expert" is not a factual one.

Andy

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

zzzynick wrote:

First off I like your shot.
It would not work in B&W
Just because street photography started when there was only B&W film, everyone thinks that's the way it should be.
That's b.s.

That is not at all the reason people do Street most often in BW.

Quote:

We see in color. Life is colorful.
We have digital cameras, instead of B&W film.

Each statement is true, but all are non-sequitors. That is because the subjects for Street Photography are not objects!

Street is an abstraction showing the intangible relationships between tangible objects. The objects, when color is used, almost always obfuscate the necessary relationships.

The added complexity of shooting Street in color makes it quite difficult. One reason is that most photographers learn to use excessively saturated colors; but typically good color Street Photography is almost always with low saturation... or just totally desaturated to BW to reduce the obfuscation.

Quote:

There are only a select few, that can produce a stunning shot in B&W.
I know I am not one of them, I did try though.
I also know, there isn't one of them on this site either.

That is not the case with Street Photography in general, but might be claimed as true for relative beginners for other genres.

Trying to get good Street Photography in color is a complex and very difficult compositional undertaking. We have many many very good examples of Street Photography posted with regularity to this section, and BW images out number color by quite a margin.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

AndyH wrote:

Someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? ...

I understand the frustration with the opinions posted by the OP. However, lets not get into personalities in a negative way!

rayclay Loc: Arab, AL., USA

IMO color helps more often than not. The world I see every day is in color. Even on the streets.

AndyH Loc: Massachusetts and New Hampshire

Apaflo wrote:

I understand the frustration with the opinions posted by the OP. However, lets not get into personalities in a negative way!

I did not disagree with the OP in any regard. I expressed my tremendous admiration for both this image and his body of work.

I deeply apologize if I offended "zzznick" by inquiring about his mood or sleeping position. I should have merely disputed his fact, stated as opinion here about the lack of any good photographers in the street forum:

Quote:

I also know, there isn't one of them [select few, that can produce a stunning shot in B&W] on this site either.

Personally, I only "know" facts, and if that's a fact, I'm a zombie. There are many excellent photographers on this site who produce good, great, and occasionally brilliant images in black and white, and post them here. Some of the talents impress and inspire me to make better images.

Now that's a fact I know.

Andy