Why Black and White Photography?

[@3BMEP]

Thank you all for such wonderfully rich and heartfelt contributions to the conversation. I want to respond to each of you - we clearly share a passion - yet I am on to my next deadline and cannot. Please know that I do read ALL of your comments, however, and consider each one of them a gift. THANK you - and please do keep the conversation going. 🙏🏻😊🖖🏻

[@roderickwho1983]

Top man, Hugh :-) . All that name dropping in your last video will keep me busy for weeks :-) Thanks

[@NH4Ukraine2]

“Color is a more blunt force instrument”. That about sums it up. I once heard a quote, though I don’t know who from, “When you photograph someone in color, you take a picture of their clothes. When you photograph them in black and white, you take a picture of their soul.”.

[@3BMEP]

I love that. But Claudia disagrees completely, and I see her point. Were it only that straightforward! 🙏🏻😊🖖🏻

[@thomassarver7638]

I like that quote

[@miguelbmelo]

A friend of mine put it like this: - "Imagine photos as your own memories... how many times do you refer to a memory or describe a scene to another person by the colors you saw"; I know there's more to it and there are other arguments to be made for either (color or black & white photography) but I found this one interesting.

[@3BMEP]

Excellent!

[@JennyDarukat]

Honestly that's a very nice way to put it in my opinion - you remember what, you remember where, but do you really care about the colour of the curtains in the back? Sometimes, definitely, but most of the time? It's similar to writing in a way, if you see my association here.

[@reshaw9182]

Excellent point. Thanks for this

[@steverileypictures5724]

I have total recall of my life experience through my photographs,where I was,when,what I was feeling,and who I was with.

[@downsjmmyjones101]

I totally relate. My memories aren't really colored. They're a lot of grey. B&W photos are more dream-like or separate from real life. It feels like looking into a diffefent world.

[@chrisrippy4454]

I could listen to you talk for hours. I have been off the path for a bit with my photography but you have inspired me to get back out there. Thank you.

[@3BMEP]

Welcome back to the fold!

[@souleles1]

A beautifully eloquent love letter to black and white. Thanks so much Hugh

[@saxmangeoff]

“Casablanca, my all-time favorite.” I knew I liked you. Best movie ever made!

[@spandsbab]

This is why film and film simulation is so popular, it's more than just an image, it's both a memory and an emotion

[@jasonbokar7482]

Could listen to your commentary forever… just wonderful. Thank you!!

[@nelsono4315]

I love B&W film photography because I get to process the film myself. I love working on the scans on my computer and making them as dramatic or not dramatic as I want. I love the whole process. I love experimenting with color filters when I shoot B&W film. And, some things just look better in B&W.

[@tomjohnson3728]

I'm a similar age and back in my 20s my sister took a camera course. They told her to buy a Pentax K1000. She didn't take to photography and gifted the camera to me. I took the course and fell in love with photography! The night the teacher told us to get a roll of B&W and shoot, looking for light and shadow only is the lessen that was the most striking and interesting to me. I sometimes turn off RAW and have set some filters in my camera to different contrasted B&W. I don't care if the color is not there because the images I'm looking for ARE B&W!

[@nathanmeyer6743]

Love the gear reviews, but these last few meditations on photography videos are great work, Hugh. Please keep them up. All best from Korea

[@3BMEP]

Appreciated!😊🖖🏻

[@path11media88]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane (I'm a couple years older than you), there is nothing like the magic of dipping that just exposed 8x10 sheet and watching a photograph appear, it's magic every time. So sad so much time has passed that there are legions of photographers that never experienced the magic of a darkroom.

[@TerryD23]

Wonderfully insightful and heartfelt video, thank you. I’m primarily a bird and wildlife photographer so color for me is the way to go. However, at the “seasoned” age of 66, I’d have to admit that my favorite people photos are black and white. Looking at a b&w pic of my grandfather immediately sends me through a portal to a time long ago. Another dimension in time that touches a part of me that color just cannot. That said, I am - let’s say - guilty, of shooting current family photos in color, which is fine. They’ve made for many wonderful memories to look back on. But thanks to your video, I will start shooting some in b&w. Perhaps down the road when my children and grandchildren look at them, it will transport them, witha smile on their face, in the same way it did me. Thanks again Hugh. I appreciate the time, effort and passion you put into your videos.

[@3BMEP]

Thank YOU for sharing!

[@barryrempp1261]

When I took a photography class in college, color photography was still a bit of a novelty (late 1960s, early 70s). On the topic of color in photographs, the instructor said, "Be careful with color. It should be a garnish, not the entree." While that principle might have changed over the decades, it has stuck with me. Thanks so much for this episode! You always make me think more deeply about my photography, but this one touched my soul.

[@robstammers7149]

Hi, this is an important video. Monochrome photography, some say, is for serious photographers, who see photography as an art form. Every single word you speak in this video, strikes me so deeply, and to my own journey thru this fascination with image making. Thank you Hugh.

[@paultaylorphotography9499]

Well said Rob 👏👏👏

[@davebrown2332]

Casablanca and Fireball XL5, one a touchstone of my childhood,the other an older me. Great video Hugh,many thanks.

[@paultaylorphotography9499]

The movie that scared me rigid was shot in black and white which to me made it all the more terrifyingly real quatermass and the pit 😬😬😬 watched it again last year to be fair it’s pants.

[@stevesnyder2500]

Fireball XL5, I haven’t thought about that in years. You took me back, and explained my love of black and white better than I ever could.

[@drthompson65]

I grew up with black and white. Working in a photo store in the early 80’s I learned that a black and white photo is far my stunning than color.

[@carlharrison9503]

I always like viewing your scopes. They are relaxing. You mentioned Edward Steichen and I was transported to West Redding, CT where my girlfriend lived. One of her neighbors was Edward Steichen. We were lucky enough to meet him at the Dutch Doorway at his modest lake front property. His property was at least 6-700 acres or much more. His full white beard and hair were amazing. It was just like a seen in an old movie. I asked if we could take some photos and of course he granted our request. My camera was a Bell and Howell Dial 35 that was full or half frame. I was using TRI-X as my choice. I just went around the house and took a couple photos around the lake. I think it was around 1966. That day I will not forget.

[@3BMEP]

Great story - thank you for sharing!

[@carlharrison9503]

@@3BMEP Now to find those photos.

[@JimEmbury]

Thank you for a stroll down memory lane. As a 1950’s born you hit more than than just a few times long distant memories…

[@arturocostantino623]

The more I listen the more I like it.

[@Gynra]

Thank you, Hugh, for this well presented and thought-provoking exposition of black and white photography. Like you, my photography is grounded in the days of the home darkroom (always B&W: someone once described colour processing as ripping up money in the dark). Nothing quite beats the frisson of seeing the image magically appear in the developing tray. I often thought that "black and white" was a singularly prosaic phrase for what I was trying to achieve. "Shape and Shade" seemed to me to be far more apposite, and described the image that as in my mind when I pressed the shutter button. Of course, there were no EVFs to preview how the image would appear on the photographic paper back then; one had to instinctively "see" in black and white (.. I mean, shape and shade). Nowadays, I am primarily a colour photographer, mainly because my darkroom is long gone, and colour often works better on a screen. In my opinion, monochrome (another inappropriate word) is at its magnificent best on photographic paper, where it can really demonstrate its subtleties of shape, shade luminosity and gradation. It is still, to me, the purest form of photography, as practiced by Weston, Adams and countless others. I think I shall do more of it in future.

[@ikakau]

I was also born in 57 and shared similar experiences as you have, albeit about 5000 miles away. We didn’t have a color television in our house until my sophomore year in college. I love black and white photography but you have much more eloquently laid down a foundation of understanding of why that many in our generation can relate to. Mahalo

[@3BMEP]

Hello Hawaii!

[@joe2snj]

I have a street photography project that I have been working on which makes use of vintage lenses and slower shutter speeds to capture the movement of people within places. The temptation to make it an all black and white series is very very strong :-)

[@3BMEP]

Interesting - I’m about to put a neutral density filter on and shoot some color!

[@mariemellow]

I grew up with color photography and my first experience with B&W photography was at art school. It was amazing to develop and print my own photos in the darkroom instead of bringing the film rolls to the local grocery store. It felt more like creating art and not take some snapshots. Of course, color photography can be beautiful to, but B&W has always a special place in my heart. Nowadays I shoot B&W both film and digital. And like what you said, I shoot with de B&W filter on my digital camera, open the RAW file in Lightroom and convert it to B&W.

[@VictorReynolds]

Enjoyed the video Hugh. I too grew up with a black and white TV, so my early years were in black and white. When I took classes in photography, we started in black and white: capturing, processing and printing. Today, I set my camera on monochrome and shoot with that. I still love black and white!

[@GrenvilleMelonseedSkiff496]

Brilliant! I was born in ‘57 and can relate to so much of what you described, photographic and cultural. I started with B&W at a young age (sunny 16 etc), Dektol in high school and my basement dark room. Photography has always been there although never as a profession. Recently I decided to upgrade from my trusty iPhone 8 to a Fuji X100V and it’s great! Shooting B&W JPG and RAW. In 2020 I rediscovered bicycling and was living my best COVID life. A snazzy new carbon bike has changed my life and it feels like the new camera will have a similar effect. Many thanks for an excellent video. Who knows, there might even be a Leica in my future some day!

[@3BMEP]

Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@KkatsPhotos]

I love watching something like this on a Friday knowing that i can explore with my camera this weekend. My family recently rediscovered lost slides from the 50, 60s and 70s that some i had never seen til recently brought tears to my eyes in ways i can't explain. The Slide Projector itself had a smell if that makes sense! The colors of that era are something that i've tried and failed to replicate. I've always felt a connection to B/W...my one and only High School Photography class i shoot only with black and white film using a vintage 1950s Ricoh camera. This was 1981. But setting my EVF to Black and White this weekend feels like a perfect project. Thank you so much for this video Hugh

[@TrevorMcGrathPhotography]

My dear sir, you are a teacher, an artist and a storyteller. Hold that thought!

[@3BMEP]

😊🙏🏻🖖🏻

[@Korvash1]

I grown up in color, but from time to time, i switch the camera-profile to black & white ... it is indeed another view of the world, when you see only shadows / highlights ..... :)

[@davidellis7515]

I started in photography before I went to college. I am 2 years older than you. I shot weddings, anniversary’s, Birthday parties, specialty shots to help pay for rent and food. I shot for the school and learned to develop in black and white. I joined a photo co-op and learned to analyze color manually. I went in the service and did some intel photography of Soviet ships and subs and learned even more about black b&w photography. I stooped shooting in the 90’s and I am just starting to get back into photography again. B&W makes such a great impact! I enjoyed your history and why you shoot in b&w.

[@87solarsky]

What I love about B&W with my X3 Foveon-Sensor cameras: Channel-discrete RGB-filtered, non-interpolated B&W + Color negatives in every single RAW-file, waiting for "special treatment" in B&W-conversion from whichever color-layers individually selected adjustably experimented in SPP. It's the most comprehensive B&W vs. Color experience imaginable.

[@ExposedChannel247]

I just dug out some old Ektachrome 64 slides from the early 1970's my grandfather had shot on the coast of Maine. After I scanned them in, they had this incredible dream-like quality somewhere in between a photograph and a painting. I miss using slide film. Something about sending the film off, anxiously waiting for it to come back and putting it into the projector at night was a feeling I'll never forget back in my high school days. I also remember taking lot more time trying to find a great subject and moment to photograph, rather than just taking endless shots on digital and hoping for a keeper.

[@jeffgrischow1734]

This is a fabulous video! The narrative is great and it took me back to the days of our family slide shows. I fondly recall the sound of the projector and the family gathered round the screen. It also has motivated me to scan my black and white slides from trips 30 years ago. Thanks Hugh!

[@3BMEP]

Happy to be of service, Jeff!

[@StreetPhotographyChannel]

Thanks for the in-depth of your vision. As a street photographer I photograph in color and black and white, but I feel how the emotions but also the sense of community and the identity are better represented in black and white. I see also a tendence to see more color street photos today because many are focused on “noise” while in black and white as you say you have to deal directly with the content.

[@easygoingbutgoing]

Watching again , your terrific black and white and color presentation takes me back . To those days in my twenties stationed in Germany and the debates about Agfa , whose soft colors I learned to love .., as opposed the Kodachrome II , and the Ecktachromes … Then back home in the early 70’s with my B22 Omega enlarger in the bathroom .. and that leap to Cibachrome ..,, That Nikon FTN bought from a Canadian PX in 1968 with that 50 1.4 Nikkor for $205 total .. The Hasselblad 500/CM with that glorious Planar for $317 ( pretty close to one month’s pay as a USAF sergeant ) And using slides generally well exposed before growing into those great acufine adventures with tri X from 400 to 1200 and more .. Ilford creamy paper too back then .. Well thanks for taking this 78 year old back to his twenties if only in memories :)

[@3BMEP]

How wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing!

[@huha47]

Very interesting presentation, weil done, enjoyed it very much. When I went to university studying film and television in the mid 60s we were required to take, developed, and print our photo assignments. One learned quickly to see B/W as well as know whether it was a f11 day, etc. without using any light metering device. One learned a lot more about one shot at a time, no photoshop, just one's own ingenuity. I've always been a purist when it comes to photography, I enjoy the surprises they present me. I have, in retirement, rediscovered being more childlike when I am underway, discovering interesting things to photograph digitally, but revere my old analog Nikon and the enjoyment it has brought me all these years. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

[@GonzoTheRosarian]

The Time Life Books on Photography is how I learned photography! I have always preferred B&W, developed and printed my own rolls!

[@paulemmett3731]

Thank you for this thoughtful video. You and I were born in the same year. I remember buying my first SLR at age 17 and loading it with the ASA 25 Kodachrome. By the time I got to that point colour was pretty much the norm, but I have shot black and white occasionally since. By the way, Fireball XL5 was my favourite as a child in England before we emigrated to Canada.

[@exjazzer]

I'm 68 and doing photography after many years. I really enjoyed your humor and knowledge.

[@3BMEP]

😊🖖🏻

[@ronbaselice4270]

We are the same generation/age. Looking back my favorite photographic time was shooting B&W (Bulk Loaded) with my Leica's for a small daily newspaper. I prefer B&W also.

[@jonbarnett3154]

Thank you Hugh for sharing, entertaining and enriching, the sun is shining again.

[@3BMEP]

🙏🏻😊🖖🏻

[@Iorndealer]

“Perhaps we will met sometime along the way”… your well articulate narrative is contagious. You remind me what it might have it been like 100 years ago to meet and learn from my inspiration of that day, Alfred Stieglitz.. yes Hugh you got that passion also but in the 21st Century and Naturally in New York. Thank You

[@3BMEP]

Thank YOU for your encouragement!

[@edn.3442]

Excellent video. Your reasons why you shoot in B&W totally resonate with mine.

[@3BMEP]

😊👍🏻

[@frizzer1970]

I prefer black and white for the simple reason that I’m red/green colourblind. I can see colours but it’s shades I have trouble with, so invariably when I try and correct a colour image I ruin it (once turned sand a shade of green and didn’t realise)! I don’t have that issue with B&W, plus I just love the whole aesthetic.

[@grandpascuba]

I also started my first darkroom when I was 12 (1968). Also in our bathroom. I went the reverse of you. I started the darkroom first, printing family negatives I found in drawersand boxes. That got me interested in creating my own negatives to print.

[@OpenDGuitar]

I’m three years younger than you, and had a very similar experience with color/b&w. The first color show I ever saw was a broadcast of the Beatles Yellow Submarine, and we had to go to my grandmother’s house to see that. Oz was b&w. Love B&W photos and video.

[@archonmagosaugustus]

I adore your videos, I learn without boundaries, and today I have been gifted with a really soothing and inspiration-fueled message from you. Thanks!

[@3BMEP]

Thank YOU!

[@tompaste387]

Growing up in the UK and Australia over the late 50s to the present day, I absolutely loved all your TV Movies references AND the TIME/LIFE photography book collection, which I bought twice in my life loved them all. May I add you have a wonderful rhythm to your voice that is totally pleasant to listen to that allows every word across all your posts to be fully absorbed. Great work Hugh, thank you

[@3BMEP]

Thank YOU, Tom! 🙏🏻😊🖖🏻

[@richardpetts9661]

Hello Hugh, again. First off, thanks for sharing in such an eloquent way, your very personal journey in how you see the world, at least in photographic terms. In this I can identify so very closely, perhaps this is in part due to our closeness in age. On another note, one of color itself, I recently listened to the audio book 'The Tiger' again. In this true story of a particular creature, the author reminds me of you. His descriptive powers invoke images in one's mind that remain, at least for me, burned into my minds retina. Especially his portrait of this Tiger, it's coat resplendent in it's vivid colors, it's face and last but not least, it's eyes. This creature is painted in this story, a blaze of color stalking through a landscape of black and white. Thanks again Hugh. Richard

[@3BMEP]

😊🖖🏻

[@JoeJoe4P]

Hi Hugh. Thank you for this incredible video. It brought back memories that I haven’t visited in many a year. I want to grab my Brownie Reflex camera and a roll of 127 film that my dad gave me back in the late 1960’s and go out and just shoot. But since it’s raining, I think I’ll go and grab an old family photo album full of prints taken with that exact camera and relive the early days of my life and my parents life before I was born in 1957. Have a great day, and thank you for making mine a bit better today.

[@3BMEP]

😊

[@robmcd]

I love your videos like this, my favourite gear video moment is every time you discuss your large prints taken with an XT2. Thanks for creating this content. Alan Schaller’s black and white photography is inspirational.

[@3BMEP]

🙏🏻😊🖖🏻

[@thomasepping8637]

Thanks Hugh! I am so happy to have discovered you today. The Storytelling video and this one got me on a whole other level. I discovered photography about 20 years ago. Since then a big part of my personal and professional life. This video resonates in a mixed feeling of happiness and sadness though. Wondering how things would have gone with a few braver turns. Still, it also awakens some of the love I originally felt for photography and the curiosity it wandered around with. I am optimistic to see something grow out of that again that seemed held back for a while. thank you!

[@digiternst]

Great talk on hue, Hugh!

[@3BMEP]

Hah!

[@Turtlesarecoolok]

You had me convinced at Gigantor. Absolutely beautiful video and I appreciate and value your journey. Thank you so much for sharing this exposition of black and white photography. Every day I continue to learn there's more to learn. : )

[@3BMEP]

😊🖖🏻

[@christopherbgriffith]

This got me reflecting on my own preferences for color vs B&W photography. I love shooting film in black and white, I think because there's something satisfying about that fact that, unlike a digital sensor that "sees" color but chooses to ignore it, the film isn't capable of capturing that information at all. I find that my preferences for color photos tends heavily towards very saturated hues - the "go Velvia or go home" version of color. Removing color strips bare an image's composition, which I've found to be an excellent if sometimes brutal teacher.

[@philipshucet9481]

This was nice. Happy to hear you talk about favoring black and white, but in a way respectful to color. Well done. As you know I only see muted colors. Normally I head out every morning monochrom in hand. But some mornings I leave with a specific intent of only making color photographs. On those days, something about color really needs to jump out before I’ll make a photograph. More often than not I come home empty. But today I made two color photographs on my morning walk. So there’s that!

[@3BMEP]

Looking forward to seeing them!

[@mwales2112]

I as a lot of people here grew up with B&W film and still love B&W today with digital camera's. I would love to be able to pickup a Monochrome Leica, but are a bit out of reach and I'm very happy with my Fujifilm gear. It would be nice for them to release a Monochrome X-Pro or X100 camera... Thanks Hugh.....

[@andrefelixstudio2833]

You might want to try Trix 100 ASA in D76 at 70degrees nine minutes do a test to see if you like it as it bumps the grays out. Best for Black and white portraits of people!

[@Iorndealer]

Perhaps we might meet somewhere along the way. Your passion and the way you articulate photography remind me of my youth when I began to read and study my hero. I was 12 years old in 1960 when I got my first serious camera a Kodak Retina III, which I have still to this day. That hero and inspiration was of course Alfred Stieglitz. He was the photographic scene some 100 years ago, Today we have another that can inspire and impart both knowledge and understanding. Another New Yorker, Thank You Hugh . I’m sure in the not so distant future people younger generations will read and view your work and knowledge if they to are passionate about photography as we are.

[@3BMEP]

[@oligilkes6355]

Loving the non gear related features. Thank you

[@chilecayenne]

I find that B&W makes the mundane into magnificent!! I saved my nickels and hocked a kidney and bought a Leica M10 Monochrom. I'm finding that I now shoot almost exclusively in black and white lately... Paul Simon was wrong, the world looks better in Black & White.

[@astrofotografiaycafe.]

I'm an event and astro photographer, and I recently decided to give it a try, just for the sake of artistic freedom, but to my astrophotography. It was tremendously rewarding and different. I'm still working on it, and it truly is amazing. As Hugh said, seeing in black and white is a whole different reality, and having the ability to do that with modern cameras through our EVFs is really something. Great talk man.

[@paultaylorphotography9499]

I love trying astro one of my fave things to do is insanely strip away the glorious colours of the Milky Way leaving a start mono image love it📷❤️📷

[@astrofotografiaycafe.]

@@paultaylorphotography9499 it truly is something different, it makes you think. I love it.

[@paultaylorphotography9499]

@@astrofotografiaycafe. always good to think mate 😂📷

[@janneolsson4438]

Interesting discussion. B&w photography is special. Spending the teens in the darkroom getting dizzy from fumes and pale as the paper in the boxes from not being out in the sun created memories. We used to push tri-x to 3200, processing it in Agfa Neutol. Very grainy, but usable and fun. With absence of colour the importance of light in pictures become obvious, I guess photographing in b&w make that insight come quicker. Keep up your good work, thanks for posting. Best regards from northern Sweden.

[@nolansnook1268]

Another lovely and perhaps important essay Hugh. I was lucky enough to briefly study with Stirling Silliphant, the brilliant creator and writer of TV's Naked City ("There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.") and Route 66. Remember? Black and white actually was part of the stories. Thanks for kick starting my memories, you ARE the best. / N

[@3BMEP]

Wow! What a pedigree!

[@davidburns9471]

Beautiful Hugh! So good and hitting so many of my personal favourites- Penn, Avedon, Parks, Evans and of course Tri-X! Thank you.

[@frand6822]

I get it, Hugh. I get all of it. And, being 72, my history parallels yours in terms of B&W influences and experiences, perhaps a bit more, given my "advanced" years. So, thank you again for another brilliant video. As for shooting in black and white, I recently purchased a Leica Q2 Monochrom. I've been shooting the original Q since it first came out, but this Q2 Monochrom has brought me home. My fellow photographer friends scoff, telling me that I wasted a lot of money, that I can simple convert. No, no grasshoppers... It's not that... The limitation of being able to only capture in black and white increases my intention, not to mention the incredible dynamic range of the files the camera provides. Again, thanks for the memories and your excellent words.

[@VIDJACK]

I waited until I wouldn't be interrupted - put on my headphones, sat back and watched this great "conversation". A few years back, I was fortunate enough to find myself in a Street Photography class in Monterey, CA with Nino Rakichevich. He strongly suggested we shoot in black and white - something I was reluctant to do considering the beautiful location. However, once I switched and looked through the viewfinder - EVERYTHING CHANGED! Suddenly, composition within the frame became far more self-evident and even exposure was much easier to nail. It was as if a veil had been lifted from my eyes and I could suddenly see what was really important - and not be distracted by less important concerns. And because I shot in RAW, I could always reintroduce color in the edit, if I think it mattered. And about 90% of the time it did not. My family would rather I take brightly colored photos to hang on the walls but - for my own personal satisfaction, B&W photography reveals the truth in front of me. Thanks, Hugh, for the great conversation.

[@3BMEP]

Nino is great!

[@davepayne8500]

What a stunning ode to what I'm currently working into...BNW Photography! We're the same age so your many historical references grabbed me by both shoulders. I would REALLY appreciate a video on the best brands/models for BNW Photography that aren't Leica. I get it...the Q2 Monochrom is my "Pinnacle", but robbing a bank is not an option for me. Many, many thanks and Stay Safe, Stay Strong, Stay Healthy 😷 📷 🖤 ‼️

[@johnsaris2426]

This is a wonderful trip down memory lane. Thank you so very much! I’m a retired Marine Corps Combat Correspondent. Your reference to rushing home to process your tri-x 400 made me laugh out loud. After my career using black and white film, I put the camera down and left it until very recently. I had a very negative (pun intended) view of the new digital age. I regret that immensely. You’re work, photos and sense of humor is refreshing and frankly inspiring to me. Please keep sharing!

[@3BMEP]

I promise I will! Thanks for sharing! 😊🖖🏻

[@edwardpike1]

Having been born before WWll, my early film adventure was always black and white. I was hooked after visiting with a friend in a wet darkroom, while serving in Germany, with the Army in 1959. I served in Vietnam in 1965 and when it was time to re-up I asked if I could go to photo school after my tour, and was told that I could only serve in my own vacancy. At the time we were in a foxhole being shot at so I came home. I was never a full time pro, but did shoot for two weekly newspapers for over 10 years and then shot weddings on some weekends. But my own personal work was alway in B&W. The photographer who inspired me was Alfred Eisenstaedt of Life Magazine. Today I shoot street in Charlotte, N.C. and still love doing it after all of these years. People still try to hire me to do work, but I turn them down now. Still the love I first thought is still there, and oh the equipment we have today, wonderful. My time during the shutdown has been shooting daily on a greenway behind my house. I have learned so much during this year and I think I am better for it.

[@3BMEP]

Thank you so much for sharing!

[@andrewchisholm3665]

I love shooting in B&W and have set my Z5 to B&W when i am out, can't wait to use it in a studio setting. As i am very partially sighted shooting in B&W helps me see where the shadows and highlights better without the colour getting in the way. At home growing up we did not have a colour tv until the early 80's so i too was brought up watching the world in B&W. In the UK during a snooker match one of the commentators said "for those watching in black and white the brown ball is behind the blue one"

[@bfs5113]

I might have started out with B&W in the early-seventies, but preferred color even it was rare. Maybe because I like new stuffs and enjoy travelling the related uncharted path more than a beaten one. Armed with the experience of the B&W history to create new ones is way more fun and challenging. Hence, it was seeing my first B&W print developing that kick-started this hobby, but when the stars were aligned to get the first color print right, with primitive chemicals, process and no color analyzer, was most rewarding. Memories or the good old days stories can wait, since there are too many new things yet to be explored.

[@alexhawley3215]

Amazing! From a photography viewpoint, growing up in Kansas and NYC was the same in that era. You just had more people and buildings. Lots of good thoughts Hugh!

[@3BMEP]

😊🖖🏻

[@ropersix]

I've also read that the brain's processing of tone information is done for things like threat detection, that have to be done as quickly as possible (like a lion bounding out of the bushes). Color information is used for other, different things. We don't consciously realize the brain is processing black and white information separately, but I think the fact that it nevertheless does is one reason B&W photography works so well--or even works at all. And it's also a reason why arguing which is "better" is futile: they're different things, and can't be compared to each other, when used property. Something created with tone in mind is a much different thing than something created with color in mind. And as you say, it helps to have a clear intent about which you're dong.

[@3BMEP]

Good point- and thanks for the additional insight. It is consistent with my comment about vectoring (“incoming!”).

[@janneolsson4438]

So true. Colours are used more for the more pleasant - yet important - parts of life (where decisions doesn't have to be as fast as when detecting threats) - like finding food and sex. I think you're right about that being the reason for b&w photography working so well, it's not as "busy". Yet quite a few photographers believe their photographs will transform into "fine art" instantly if they convert them to b&w. Of course many pictures benefit from removing distracting colour, but that doesn't necessary make the pictures better. Without plans or intent, any good picture will be pure luck - probably not a result from creativity.

[@jlmtrout]

Thanks Hugh great video. I'm a huge B & W fan, a little older than you, born in "52". I started in photography in high school with my grandfather's old Argus cameras.Our photography club received bulk government B & W film which we re-spooled, exposed and learned to develop ourselves.....

[@sfbroome]

This is just outstanding work, Hugh. Well done and thank you.

[@3BMEP]

Thank YOU, Steve!

[@anthonymiller8979]

When I see B&W photos I see details, tones, contrast and glow. In see art. Like in your video right now. I see the detail of your beard and hair, I see a soft glow of the skin of your forehead and the way your shirt almost disappears into the background at times. When I see color videos of you, well I simply see Hugh Brownstone, I just tend to see the subject, a record of what was in front of the camera, not much more.

[@BilBrown]

We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but we might find out that light is fighting fires. Our colors like Eggleston said to me are best if we forget the subject and expect the feeling. That is black & white to me, it draws the feeling. Color, it paints it. Both have purpose.

[@bassem500]

Thank you Hugh for sharing your thoughts on this, for me very timely, subject. You got me thinking … again… ;-) In 1985 the first film I loaded into my first serious camera was an Agfapan 100 Professional ( for those unfamiliar with film, this is a black and white film stock ), which I then developed myself and enlarged on Ilford paper. I engaged with the hardest contrast, because I liked to make my shots look like they were drawn with a charcoal pencil. For decades I had no grasp of colour in my photography. Whenever a colour shot went well, it was more owing to chance than anything else. The more digital photography advanced ( in cameras and post-processing ), the more I got interested in shooting in colour. At the moment I am reprocessing in colour many of my street shots which I converted to black and white back in the day. I am overwhelmed while learning about colour theory, induced emotions and language. But some shots tell me that they need to stay in black and white, because it is in shades of grey where they shine.

[@3BMEP]

Love that last clause, Bassem!

[@frankiecalabro2617]

Hugh, your black and white photography is brilliant, moody and in the vein of the greats like my favorite, Avedon. God bless you my friend, may you remain an inspiration to so many. I love your compositions.

[@3BMEP]

Thank YOU my friend. 😊🖖🏻

[@tizianobabbi3218]

Loved the video. You took me back to my youth (I am 1 year older than you) because many experiences were similar. However, I started photography with my own gear in 1978 only. Previosly, I experienced b&w photography with a professional's camera at motorcycle races in Italy, but seeing all the colors on the bikes and racetracks that did not satisfy me. When I bought my first camera it had to be colors, because I love colors [and b&w]. But I soon realized that there is a time, place and subject for color or b&w. As a matter of fact my first roll of b&w Ilford film was saved for a picture setting of the Wettsteinbrücke and the Münster in Basel viewed from the Rhine in dense fog. I had that picture in mind for almost a year until one day during work the conditions were right. I ran out of the bank down to the Rhine to my parked car and shot a whole role of film with different settings. But the same thing holds true for color. For me, e.g. Times Square at night must be in color. So, for me both color and b&w is fine and I see the pictures also in color or b&w before I shoot. I think, the way you want to deliver the message many times needs a different setting of the subject for b&w vs color. Some of my b&w pictures are meaningless in color... LIke you, I also shoot JPEG and RAW and even have 3 different Q Options for b&w. Greetings to you and Claudia from Switzerland

[@3BMEP]

Hello Switzerland!

[@kiwipics]

Fireball XL5 ... blast from the past. I love to shoot B&W, but really love to shoot Infrared B&W.... Mind bending, and so much fun. I love to shoot colour (I miss Kodachrome), but the price of film these days makes digital my preferred choice. Great piece of work as always Hugh

[@iangillett1817]

This is without doubt the best video I have ever watched on KZbin! Brilliantly presented, perfectly paced and inspiring. Thank you!

[@3BMEP]

🙏🏻😊🖖🏻

[@jamescall9674]

For me, Black and White is simply timeless!

[@williamshaffer9216]

Thank You for this production. I enjoyed it very much. I, too, was born in the middle of the last century and began my B&W Film Journey at the age of 12 with a Kodak Brownie Camera. Since that time, I have had a camera in my hand for most of my life, with B&W being my choice for images. I spent several years as a part-time professional photographer but far prefer being a confirmed serious amateur. I embrace what you have said in this video and feel like a kindred soul. Thank You!

[@3BMEP]

My pleasure!🖖🏻😊

[@obscur_yoann]

In my process, I am more and more seeing/thinking in B&W... I tend to use my mirrorless directly in B&W too. I see colors as distractions most of the time. Then in front of my computer, I am by default in B&W. I ask myself if colors will add something or not to the picture. If not, then I keep it B&W...

[@operarocks]

Plus the added benefit B/W looks like I have more hair than color gives me on film.

[@alexanderkhruzchev2995]

cannot agree more, black and white makes us focus on the subject without distracted by the color

[@rodcummings3606]

Wow. Thank you Hugh. Absolutely mesmerising presentation. No one else like you on KZbin. Really spoke to me and my early photography in Australia. Had a full darkroom at home. Have got back into Vintage lenses on mirrorless and now shooting some old Pan-X on a Pentax. Thank you so much for explaining why I love black & white.

[@3BMEP]

😊🙏🏻🖖🏻

[@shawndougherty9680]

I enjoyed your thoughtful video and wanted to say thank you! I shoot black and white exclusively and share many of your reasons and influences. While I watch videos on gear that interests me (waiting on my Sony 40mm 2.5 G) I especially enjoy videos like this and your recent "Photographs Don't Tell Stories - YOU Do." All the best!

[@ChristineWilsonPhotography]

I grew up with B&W too, its very nostalgic for me to work only in B&W, I still have one of my dads small kodack development trays

[@JennyDarukat]

I grew up with colour, but black and white is special to me - like you say, it just brings out things like texture so much better. Street photos hardly do very much for me in colour, the signal-to-noise ratio is just too busy to parse every scene, slow down to think and notice what's actually going on vs being slammed in the face with another level of detail (colour) that often contributes relatively little to my enjoyment of a photo. I honestly prefer shooting in monochrome, even if I end up editing in colour later - I already see the scene in colour without the finder, so why not use both views to help me pick a good shot?

[@JennyDarukat]

(this isn't to say in any way that I don't love them both, and in fact most of my photos *are* in colour - it's just that there's something special about that monochrome view)

[@3BMEP]

I understand, Jenny. 😊

[@terryallen9546]

You are to photography what Anthony B. was and still is to cooking culture. Love your "rods and cones" bit.

[@iaincphotography6051]

I enjoyed that, good to listen to. The books you had, snap me too but now I only have one left "Colour" I was born in the early 50s and B+W was the way. I have done so much work in B+W but these days maybe only 10%. Ernst Haas, Saul Leiter, brought us into the light. And I am so glad that Artists have colour, some of those paintings would be so drab in B+W.

[@charliejg]

Boy, that was one heck of a flashback video! I also watched many of those TV shows in black and white as a child of the 60s and 70s. Another I'd mention would be Mr. Ed! :-) Thanks for a fun video. Rock On!

[@3BMEP]

“A horse is a horse, of course…”

[@easygoingbutgoing]

And , in the memory bank …..there’s Ansel , from the Folgers coffee can through the profound zone system ;)

[@alexzahnd2642]

Interesting, we are the same age and I LOVED Kodachrome ASA25 and 64 when I explored the Himalayas in the early 80's...the colors were amazing....and the slides still OK today....! Keep the good work up.

[@easygoingbutgoing]

Photography teacher in college told us back then that black and white requires our participation in viewing ..color does not need us to try and fill in its absence . Hell, that doesn’t sound clear ., what I meant is that black and white causes us to get involved emotionally where as color does not to the same extent

[@3BMEP]

Hmmm…

[@jandsvintagestuff4669]

You just introduced me to Ernst Haas. I instantly connected to his Frigidaire photo in your video (I had to rewind to catch his name). Through research I learned he shot for the Marlboro man cigarette campaign. I am inspired by his work. Thank you!

[@3BMEP]

Glad to be of service. 😊🖖🏻