As photographers, we are concerned and we strive to make beautiful photographs. But how do we do this? And what makes a beautiful photograph?
For me, part of it is photographing that whom you consider beautiful. For example, I consider my son Seneca to be the most beautiful child. Therefore any photograph I make of him is a ripe candidate for a beautiful photograph.
However not every photograph I make of him is beautiful. There is a hierarchy; most of the photos I shoot of him are just ‘okay’– I am striving towards the beautiful photos of him.
Capturing a certain moment, or certain details?
Also, certain details– the light, no blown out highlights, the tone (I prefer more low-key // as dark as possible), and also– black and white.
Why do I find black and white more beautiful than color?
The reasons:
- For me, monochrome as more timeless. Color for me goes in and out of fashion, and also the *rendering* or the style of color is always changing. For example, high saturated colors vs ‘cross processed‘ colors, and nowadays cameras all render color differently. I love color film (Portra 400), yet the colors are inconsistent — depending on where you get your photos scanned, etc. Also all digital cameras render color differently, and whether you’re shooting RAW or JPEG — it is always so different. Too much inconsistency in color for me.
- More mystery: We do not see the world in monochrome. We see the world in color. Therefore, monochrome abstracts the world, and makes it different. Perhaps as artists, the goal we have isn’t to present the world as it is, but to show our own *interpretation* of the world.
