B&W Photography

[Tyler F]

Hey Roger,

I’m a bit curious as I’ve heard you mention a few times that you enjoy B&W photography more than color (not that you do not like color), but when you walk around with your stills camera, are you imagining your scenes in B&W? What I mean by that is outside of composition, proximity to subject and subject matter, do you view the way light and contrast fall on a scene in a less distracting way? Further, who was your biggest inspiration in film photography and was the way they were able to understand lighting in their photos part of that inspiration or was it something else?

Thank you and very best regards,

Tyler

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

I do prefer my still photos in B&W. Sometimes I use a color camera and sometimes a monochrome camera. I wouldn’t say I am looking at the light differently either way. Something just seems worthy of a photograph or it doesn’t.

So many great photographers. Some seem more interested in the light and composition than making a comment on society, others are all about the subject. Bill Brandt took images that varied wildly from one to another.

The photographers that inspire me are usually those that reveal something of themselves. You see their personality in their images.

[Author]

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