I wanted to dedicate this blog post to off-color images. We see the world in color and it is beautiful. But what happens when we can’t see the colors as they are, what happens when some colors look the same? Are the pictures still beautiful or they are just the same shade boring? According to National Eye Institute, about 8% of the male population have a degree of color blindness. It might not seem like a lot, but my math is pretty simple: Last year, over 200 families came to us, which means over 16 fathers weren’t able to see their children in “perfect” color. As a parent of a child who has a degree of color blindness, I think about this and think about how I can both as a parent and as a photographer, deliver my message and my vision to the viewer. Interestingly, when I watch a movie, one of my goals is not just to absorb the plot and enjoy the work of the actors, but also to think “why” the director chose one focal length over another and how the director telling the story with light… Photography = drawing with light; if there’s no light, there cannot be a picture. It’s the intensity of light and how might it burns onto the medium that creates a shape, when adding different color wavelength to it, we create a color picture. But black and white, the classics… so to speak, in my opinion, is something that never will die out. With black-and-white images, there could be a degree of mystery and enthusiasm, there could be happiness and sadness. I truly miss the days when I was photographing with dedicated Black and White film because the approach was slightly different, more challenging, and exciting at the same time.
Contrary to popular belief, post-processing of BW isn’t just removing (or de-saturating) the color from the images. It’s actually about spreading the image through a series of zones of exposure from pure black to pure white. Although I will not go into teaching details of photography and post-processing of black and white, I’d like to show off my images that were photographed and processed with the intent to be black and white. Also kudos to clients who saw the beauty in these images and acquired them for their viewing pleasures.
