New York, in Vintage Black and White, and Photography Posts on Walking Off the Big Apple

Black and white photographs cut to the chase, drawing attention to content, composition, and always, the value of light. Shooting images in black and white, as opposed to color, makes amateur photographers like myself connect to a tradition of fine art photography. I remember a two-week stay in Paris many years ago when I took pictures in color for the first week, but for the second I switched to black and white film. I still value many of these latter images of Parisian places - a windy street in the Marais, a cafe on the Left Bank, or a walkway in the Place des Vosges, and I hardly know where I've stashed the color ones.

Yesterday, I spent three hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, mainly to see Roxy Paine's Maelstrom on the roof, the New American Wing and a

A Selection of Photography-related Posts on Walking Off the Big Apple
• The Lomo/Leica Walk
• Walker Evans, a Block on E. 61st Street in 1938, and a Visit in April of 2009
• The Flâneur's Sketchbook and Camera

• How to Take Better Images With the iPhone 3G Camera
• Making My Own Manhatta (on Paul Strand)
• William Eggleston and Alexander Calder at the Whitney (Note: If you work in color photography, study Eggleston)
• Earning Her Wrinkles: Rosalind Solomon at Silverstein Gallery
• Capturing the Big Mo: Michele Asselin's Photographs of Mike Huckabee
• The Intrinsic Beauty of Gotham in the Falling Snow
• Diane Arbus and the Hotel Chelsea Walk: No Freaks, No Punks
Images by Walking Off the Big Apple from July 12, 2009 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art made with the Vint B&W app for iPhone3G. Click on an image to enlarge. When I illustrate future posts, I'll try not to bum myself out if the pictures are in color.
You know, Teri, I used to be a huge black & white fan. Any time I was doing what I considered my serious art photography, I had Tri-X in my camera. And I'll admit, black & white can be compositionally unifying and add drama to certain images. But the work of pioneering color photographers like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore and the transcendent capturing of light by Joel Meyerowitz have made me a convert to color. Of course, the beauty of digital photography is that we can now have it both ways!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments. I have to admit that the Stephen Shore exhibit at the ICP was THE most transcendent experience - definitely one of the memorable exhibits in NY in recent years.
ReplyDeleteBlack & white or colour; you take wonderful photographs Ms Tynes!
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