Colour or Monochrome...? That is the question...

My last assignment at photography school was the first of the truly "creative thinking processes" assignments. Up until now we were being taught everything we need to know about how cameras and lenses work, the more technical side of photography.

We had a lecture about composition and why we seem to like one image over another, the assignment was to bring in 8 images that we liked and to state briefly why we liked them. The second part of the assignment is that later in the year we have to try and duplicate 2 of those images...


6 of my 8 images were black and white... I started to see that the images that I liked the most were about contrast, light, shadow and texture, all of which don't necessarily require colour. The header image on this blog was taken in colour and, to me, looks so much better in black and white that I can't even find the colour version anymore (I'm sure I still have it, somewhere).

I used to go with Dad when he was doing the photofinish images for horse racing (I still have quite a few of his old negatives boxed up in storage) around home when I was a lot younger, the smell of the darkroom chemicals reminds me so very strongly of that, it is amazing.

One of my regrets today is that I never took the time to really learn how to do it myself. Partly because Dad was "at work" and had time restraints but I could have if I had wanted to at the time. I could fill a book with "if only's"!

I managed a promotion today so maybe, just maybe, I can work towards some darkroom stuff?