Thoughts on black vs white in photography, approach, technique, etc:

Black vs White

The interesting thing about black and white photography:

A photograph which is all black is meaningless. A photo all white is meaningless. A photo needs BOTH the white AND black.

Furthermore, inherent in the black or white portion, there is a dot of the other extreme:

For example in the white space, there is a black dot. In the black space, there is a white dot.

In the context of my black and white photography, I see a strong and stark contrast between the white and black region in my photos:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Extreme action or extreme tranquility?

Another yin and yang concept:

Perhaps the most effective types of images are the ones which have a stark yin-yang contrast between the extremes.

For example, the extreme zen photos:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Then the extreme action photos:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Don’t focus on only one extreme

I believe the notion of yin and yang is this:

Extremes don’t exist. They’re simply different sides of the same coin.

And we need both.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•