What difference does colour make to a genre that traditionally was predominantly black and white?
Fan Ho approaching shadow circa 1954
Fan Ho approaching shadow picture was originally a colour staged picture. By manipulating it in the darkroom adding the strong diagonal shadow and in black and white works better than colour. This would not have the same desired effect had it been in colour.
B&W for me give the image a kind of lift and feeling to it. Although some may say it is dull and lacks drama, I tend to think it adds to the drama.
Colour has a part to play in modern-day photography but to be honest with you I’m not a huge fan in street photography unless I’m shooting in the dark hours or areas of neon lights, where i will still try to get a dark contrasty shadow or silhouette within my frame. Colour seems to make the subject pop more.
Picadilly Circus 15 Nov 19
When you compare the likes of Martin Parrs images in his Only human exhibition he placed on last year. I visited this during my EYV learning journey. His colourful images pop and make the subject stand out, whether he’s isolating one single colour or multiple colours to enhance a subject there is something i enjoy with his pictures.
“In black and white you suggest, in colour you state,” – Paul Outerbridge Page 55
“When you photograph peolpe in colour, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph peolpe in black and white, you photograph their souls!” – Ted Grant page 57
Can you spot the shift away from the influence of surrealism (as in Cartier-Bresson’s work)? In today’s world, I find it quite hard to find if there is or has been a shift.
How is irony used to comment on British-ness or American values?
The irony within the images at the time i believe speaks for itself. From the quintessential Englishness of Martin Parrs pictures to harsh realities of Don McCullins images of the UK going through the ages. Looking to the US and the images from the Robert Franks Americans shows how irony can be both subtle and frank. If you look at today’s images from Brexit to who running for the Presidential elections and Donald Trump’s tweets and his media team. They add and thrive in the irony of his at times staged images i believe.
Biograpghy
Duckett, B. L. (2016). Mastering Street Photography (pp. 55, 57).
During my EYV journey, I wrote about Martin Parrs ”Only Human” London exhibition he put on. Going through this part of the journey and mentions the term Irony I thought about some of his classic quintessential British images he captured.
I later found this BBC4 documentary he produced circa 1999 ”Think of England”. Now we venture into a new decade as this film was built the year before the start of the new millennium it’s strange in a way to look back to that time. It has quite a humorous feel to it. It captures the classic side of those hardcore elements of society from the rich to the poor and those that have strong ties to the country. This is England.
Although it’s only 20 years, you can see a shift now in society, but I don’t think this is shown in today’s photography. Martin Parr has an eye for capturing both the realism and moment within his pictures. Although his photographs are not what I would take, they are intriguing and visually stunning when looking beyond the lens. A picture does paint a thousand words.
I shoot probably 85% of the time using the in-camera Fujifilm Acros film simulation which is black and white. I really enjoy seeing images in BnW. This for me is stronger than colour. Colour for me works best at night. I believe BnW tells a better story of what it is your trying to capture. These images were taken between Blackfriars Bridge and the Tate Gallery London.
From a personal perspective I like the B&W image more than the colour. These are SOOC unedited or cropped.
Part Two Context and Narrative BA HONS in Photography OCA 