Black and White

My relationship with monochrome photography goes back to childhood.? My Father was a Photography Lecturer and landscape photographer and taught me to process my own films and make prints in his darkroom.? I was immediately captivated by the alchemical magic of seeing images slowly appear on the paper and how my vision of a moment became a physical artefact, a photographic print. Although I now rarely work with film in this digital age, the art and craft of printmaking in the darkroom still influences how I approach the post-production of images today. I seldom do much to an image digitally that I would not be able to achieve in a darkroom.

As well as being fortunate enough to have had access to a darkroom, my Father had an extensive collection of photographic books, so I was exposed to the work of some of the grand masters of photography like, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Andre Kertesz, Henri Cartier Bresson, Bill Brandt and a litany of other luminaries of the art of photography at an early age.? Of course, most of their work was black and white and this was inevitably a formative influence as well as being an education. I always urge other photography enthusiasts to study the work of the ‘Masters’ of Photography, both historic and contemporary.? By exposing yourself to great photography you subconsciously absorb a lot about composition, lighting, and what makes a great photograph, which is a good place to begin in developing your own unique style and voice.

?For many of those Photographers working before the mid twentieth century, monochrome was the only practical choice, but the creative appeal of Black and White photography means it is an enduring genre of choice for many contemporary ‘art’ photographers. Monochrome photography removes the distraction of colour, it is an abstracted, less literal representation of the world and arguably invites a more creative interpretation of the subject. It is a particular way of seeing and thinking that reduces imagery to the influence of lighting, shadows, contrast, texture, form, and patterns.

I am fortunate to live on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall at the far Southwest tip of England surrounded by wild, unspoilt landscape, designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty.? Its stunning Atlantic coastline, beautiful beaches and picturesque fishing villages have been the inspiration for generations of artists, and it is the inspiration for much of my work. Whether working in black and white or colour capturing the spirit and nature of the land and seascape and the capricious moods of the weather is the ultimate challenge; It is ever-changing, season by season and often minute by minute. Part of the skill is to be in the right place at the right time. But, despite knowing the coastline intimately and being able to predict where the best place is likely to be, given the time of year, time of day and tide and wind direction etc. nature never fails to deliver the unexpected.

For me, black and white captures the elemental drama and primal spirit and beauty of the Cornish coast and the interplay of sky, sea and land in a way that colour cannot.

?One of the techniques I instinctively use is to shoot into the sun.? In this shot from my ‘black rocks’ series, the foreground rocks are in shade and together with the shadows cast by them. they lead the eye and frame the sea and sky between and beyond. Being intentionally under exposed, relative to the sea and sky, reduces the granite and serpentine rock formations to silhouetted shapes and forms. This gives them a sense of strength, permanence and solidity in juxtaposition with the sea and sky that are constantly in flux.

Just as a story has a beginning middle and end, a photograph has a foreground, mid-ground and background.? The arrangement or composition of the elements within the frame dictates the visual flow through the picture and how the viewer reads it.

One of the issues of shooting into the light is getting the exposure right.? It is always better to under expose.? Modern digital photography has an amazing latitude, so you can control how much you bring the exposure up in Photoshop, Lightroom or similar photo processing software and if you choose to, you can control the level of exposure in selective areas of the image in much the same way one might ‘dodge’ and ‘burn’ to lighten or darken portions of the image in a darkroom.?

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If you overexpose you will ‘blow’ the highlights i.e. there will be no detail, just pure white, which is one my pet hates. The aim in black and white photography generally is to achieve good tonal range with some detail in both the highlights and shadows, although in the instance of my ‘Black Rocks’ series the desired effect is to have little or no detail in the shadow areas as a stylistic choice. ?

While writing this and thinking about influences on my work with regard to composition it brought to mind the work of Victor Skrebneski.? Although not a landscape photographer, his portraits blew me away when I first saw them in my youth.? Masterpieces of composition characterised by daring framing, sometimes pushing the subject to the edges of frame or else cropping into their faces and using large areas of black clothing or drapes to create interesting shapes and forms that give emphasis to the subject’s face and hands.? His work left an indelible impression, and his bold composition has undoubtedly been an influence and inspiration in my own work.? So, again I really do urge anyone aspiring to become an accomplished black and white photographer to look at the work of the masters and analyse what makes them so good.?

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