Colour is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.
Elliott Erwitt
The choice between colour or monochrome for a photo is a very subjective one. Some people simply don’t like black and white photography, seeing it as old-fashioned, unnatural and unnecessary. Why remove the colour from a scene, they ask, when we see the world in colour. Why show things as less vibrant, less varied, less colourful than they really are?
Others swear by black and white as the only true photographic art form. Colour is too representative, not properly creative. But for me this isn’t a black and white issue (sorry, couldn’t resist that pun!) For some images colour seems to work better, for others monochrome, and for many I feel both versions have merit, bringing out different aspects of a subject. In a recent post about black and white photography of people I pointed out how colour can be a distraction, drawing your eyes away from the person’s face to focus on their clothes or surroundings.
For this end of year Monochrome Madness round-up I’ve selected some favourite shots from my monthly Changing Seasons galleries for conversion to black and white. And I’m doubling up with a link to the Lens Artists challenge, also looking for favourite shots from the past year.
It’s worth saying that these don’t necessarily represent my very favourite shot from each month, as I looked for images that would work well in monochrome. But they are all among my favourites! A few of them were previously shared in these monochrome edits but most were originally in colour and have been converted for this post using Nik Silver Efex Pro as always.
My feature photo was taken in Tynemouth, north east England, in May
JANUARY
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
FEBRUARY
Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
MARCH
Magnolia, Ealing, west London
APRIL
Tulip, Ealing, west London
MAY
Split, Croatia
JUNE
View from Battersea Power Station, London
JULY
The Meeting Place, St Pancras Station, London
AUGUST
Sunflower, Gibside, Tyne & Wear, England
SEPTEMBER
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
OCTOBER
Bodie State Historic Park, California
NOVEMBER
Squirrel, London Wetlands Centre, Barnes
DECEMBER
Tottenham, north London
If you previously left a comment here and are wondering where it’s gone, unfortunately in a slip of the finger I managed to delete this post! I was able to recover it but all comments and likes were lost, sadly.
