180 Degrees of Black and White
Gotta love #FriFotos_ on twitter! Every Friday they come up with a different theme and encourage tweeps (I hate that word) from around the world to share their photos. Many times I’ve been stumped by a theme when I first read it, but after thinking for a bit, sometimes sideways, I can usually match their theme. This week’s theme is #BlackandWhite. Since I’ve been thinking and working mostly in color for the past few years and using an 8mm circular fisheye lens, I had to pull-up my image catalog and run through it country by country.
I’m no stranger to black and white photography, mind you, in fact at one time that’s all I did. Like many kids growing up in the 70’s, Ansel Adams really inspired me. I squandered my teenage years in a darkroom and then went to an excellent photography school, which had an intensive first-year program of nothing but black and white photography. We spent hours adjusting our exposures and months in the darkroom or at a densitometer trying to make everything perfect. I admit that I was one of the few that enjoyed it.
Years later I found myself traveling a lot, discovered digital photography and forgot all about the darkroom. I still have all my B & W darkroom equipment in a few giant boxes in storage, but my current tools are Photoshop and Lightroom. So thanks again to #FriFotos_ for “Bringing me back to my roots.” In the course of exorcising the color from my image files, I ran across a few quotes by famous photographers about their preferences and thought I’d share them with you. Here goes~
“I’ve been forty years discovering that the queen of all colors is black.”
Henri Mattise
Doors ~ Penang, Malaysia (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
” The way I have always looked at it is the world is in color. And there’s nothing we can do about that.”
William Eggleston
Sunflowers ~ Lopburi, Thailand (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“I’m mystified that anyone thinks liking color is a bad thing.”
Saul Leiter
Shadow and Truck on the Silk Road ~ India (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“Full-color images lack the poignancy of monochrome… Black-and-white film inherently peels off interesting images from the world; it sees things we do not see, and thus insists on the existence of a phantom presence within reality, a world we cannot perceive. “
Peter Bunnell
Family Photo ~ Myanmar (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“There isn’t much difference between photographing in color or black-and-white.”
Daido Moriyama
Floating Mosque ~ Malaysia (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“Colour is everything, black and white is more.”
Dominic Rouse
Incense Maker ~ Thailand (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships.”
Ansel Adams
Tree Roots, Idols, and Offerings ~ Ayutthaya, Thailand (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“To see in color is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul.”
Andri Cauldwell
Goddess of Mercy Temple ~ Penang, Malaysia (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“Color tends to corrupt photography and absolute color corrupts it absolutely. Consider the way color film usually renders blue sky, green foliage, lipstick red, and the kiddies’ playsuit. These are four simple words which must be whispered: color photography is vulgar.”
Walker Evans
Where’s that Confounded Needle?! (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“I think it’s because it was an emotional story, and emotions come through much stronger in black and white. Colour is distracting in a way, it pleases the eye but it doesn’t necessarily reach the heart.”
Kim Hunter
Buddha Mountain ~ Thailand (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“You take your little automatic camera, point it at something and press the button. BOOM, It’s on the film! You can develop it in sewer water and you’ll get an image, but we’re after QUALITY –You have to do everything right.”
Brooks Institute teacher
Temple Boy ~ Tamil Nadu, India (Image from the 180books.org Photo Collection by George Edward Giunca)
“The eyes of India only see in color.”
Raghubir Singh
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Blog : Thai by Apisatha Giunca
Blog : English by George Edward Giunca
About the Authors
Photographer George Edward Giunca, and his Thai wife, Apisatha, have traveled around Thailand armed with a circular fisheye lens to create a photo essay on the rich cultural diversity, and abundant natural beauty of the Kingdom of Thailand. Fleeing from angry water buffaloes, slapping huge mosquitoes, watching exotic festivals and religious rituals, gorging on delicious spicy food, applying aloe vera cream to sunburned skin, wading through rice paddies, getting drenched to the bone by heavy monsoon rains, and gawking at breath-taking scenery; made it a journey of epic proportions! The result is the book, THAILAND 180º. Later, they traveled extensively through Myanmar, Malaysia, and India, gathering a massive collection of 180º photos. They currently live in Chiang Mai where they continue to blog and are now working on a CHIANG MAI 180º book.
Please Note: The photos in this article do not appear in this edition of THAILAND 180º
Here’s How to Order Your Copy of THAILAND 180º Collectors EditionToday!
In Thailand —>>>http://www.thailand180.com/thaiorder.html
The Rest of the world: We are offering our book on Amazon.com, below list price and I’ll pay for the shipping within the United States! http://amzn.to/1knDPRR
Not Familiar with Our Book???
This show details the origin of 180 Books, a series of art/travel books illustrated with a circular fisheye lens. By using infographics, pictures from our THAILAND 180º book, and never seen before images from our vault, we’ll demonstrate this unique lens and present our unique books.
Also, because there’s nothing to watch on TV, here’s a trailer about our book, “THAILAND 180”
