Black and White (B&W) Photography belongs to an altogether different era and the interesting part is that the art form has not only survived all this long, it is thriving with innovations taking place every next time. Seems as if man is finding it difficult to come out of its spell. B&W comes with a rich heritage in the form of works of Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Weston etc, who created masterpieces out of the constraints of equipment, tools and above all - color. But absence of the latter evidently came to their advantage and helped them see what would not be visible in a colored world. Colors dominate frame, its aspects and elements; and so a B&W photographer will rather focus on the potentials of placement, shape, pattern, texture, tonal contrast and above all flow and quality of light.
B&W photography is way beyond mere conversion of a color photo to grayscale. It is about creation of fine art objects from the scene around us. B&W is inspiring, ethereal and will remain forever.
Mario Bunčuga
February 2021
