Antigone
Sophocles' heroine in the play of the same name is a subject that you could put in the category "black and/or white". And, of course, calling her a "heroine" rather nicely emphasises the ambiguity of much that I like in photography. You will need to make your own mind up, after reading the play, as to whether indeed she is a heroine. This is the admittedly tenuous link with this blog's normal subject matter.
A famous German, Hegel, whom I won't name, was of the opinion that Greek tragedy cut to the core of things, and that the later usurper Shakespeare spent too much time dressing his dramatis personae up in needless, and frivolous, characterisation. Beneath the possibly obvious art and simplicity of the Greek tragedy, all the subtleties of the human condition are there to be examined and exposed.
This is how I feel about B+W photography compared with colour. It may well not coincide with other people's views - please feel free to argue.
percentage of male photographers to the percentage of female photographers
who use black & white or colour.
Do you think b&w is about meaning
and colour is about feeling?
I don't think you'll find truth in any photograph - all photographs are partial, subjective. I also don't agree that colour is necessarily important in the photograph, just because it was there. It might be. Depends what it is that you saw. "I paint what I see, not what I know is there" - as Turner said
I stand by most of what I wrote though.
Yet I can't help it, I'm a lover of colour. At the time of taking photos or post processing them I can't bring myself (or very rarely) to switch to b&w. I feel I'm depriving myself of something that gives me too much joy to be shed.
So coming here is like taking a lesson in restraint, clarity and light management. B&W only works if uncluttered or the photo becomes incoherent, impossible to read. These are important lessons
Next time you're in Edinburgh drop me an email and I'll get some of your old pals together for a pint. You can take the group photo.