Black and Whites

I've been growing increasingly fond of black and whites recently. I love vibrant color so much that I am always looking for it when I take photographs. In that way, I'm usually shooting to produce color images. But I love the way black and whites turn the focus of the photograph back to how it is lit. And, in cases where the lighting is nearly divine there is something much more beautiful about black and white photograhs. They look almost instantly classic.

Part of me thinks this is just a trick our minds play on us because old photographs have no choice but to be in black and white. Therefore, a black and white image is "classic." But I think there is something more to the medium that forces the modern photographer, with all the technology in the world at their fingertips, to pause and take notice of the fact that sometimes it's not technology, or even color, that improves an image. Black and white photography takes you back to the basics — back to lighting, back to focusing on the moment.

Although I posted this photograph of my son and his aunt in color on my baby blog, I couldn't resist sharing it in black and white, as well.