Why BLACK & White PRINTS!

[Tin Can]

Simple for me

Safer

Less Toxic

and I prefer BW colors

I watch as many BW movies as I can find

HATE colorized Fiics

I thought I knew 'Route 66' I forgot!

I am slowly watching them all...

[ic-racer]

I did color printing in the 1970s. I'm not color blind, but I don't 'see' in color. It did nothing for me, other than frustration because no contrast control like the Zone system I used in the 1970s.

[Andre Noble]

I remember in 1976 my 5th grade teacher gave us camera and black and white film. The B&W prints seemed to be more "progressive", honest, have more life in them.

[bmikiten]

Depth, artistry, clarity and just pure beauty without the encumbrance of color getting in the way. They are just more honest.

[Oren Grad]

and I prefer BW colors

this

[tundra]

Color is for cartoons

[Michael R]

It's like you people are parodies of yourselves at this point.

[Mark J]

I watch as many BW movies as I can find


The tonality of 40's/50's films, especially, is wonderful.

[jp]

Peter Henry Emerson : "No one but a vandal would print a landscape in red, or in cyanotype."
I like a cyanotype once in a while too.

Color printing as most of know it is more easily done well with an inkjet printer than darkroom these days. B&W should be just as easy with an inkjet, and I'm competent with computers and such, but I still can make a nicer B&W print in the darkroom and prefer that process.

[Drew Wiley]

I doubt I'll do any color printing this season because it tends to get intensive, I'd need to buy fresh chemisty, and I'm about to start up serious remodeling again. With black and white, I can just mix up the chemistry fresh from powder whenever I need it. But RA4 color is now actually cheaper to do than FB black and white.

I like both equally. But the logistics are a little different. And I don't see myself ever gravitating to inkjet, color or otherwise.

Those who think color is a lesser form are perhaps expressing a ludicrous stereotype based on a very low common denominator of rancid public taste. It can be every bit as nuanced as the finest black and white work. But many photographers confuse color with visual boom box noise, especially now in the current era of hog wild Fauxtoshop abuse. But they'll soon be out of a job anyway, as artificial bad taste takes over that particular role.

[Tin Can]

It's like you people are parodies of yourselves at this point.

You are people too

Chill

we need fair winds

[jnantz]

cause I don't even have to develop-out the prints if I don't want, I can make my own SGE in 1/2 hour and cause it's fun .. but to be honest, b+w really isn't b+w at all.

[Michael R]

True. I also should have been clearer - I wasn't referring to your post (or Oren's). It was the rest that read like laughable "artist statements".

Sorry.


You are people too

Chill

we need fair winds

[esearing]

Sadly the members of my photo club think over saturated color printed on canvas is attractive art. Even though most are older folks, they have never held a fiber paper B&W image in their hands or seen a Ciba chrome in person. I wonder if those who paint with oil feel the same about water colorist or color pencil artists ?

[Mal Paso]

I rebuilt my 4x5 B&W darkroom after the fire, I love the Silver process but you can keep RA4. I've printed my own color negative film, maintained a 20" dry to dry processor. Except for specialty printing like Cibachrome, Digital Color left Chemical Color in the dust some time ago. Color Gamut, Color Accuracy, Print Sharpness, the Permanence of Pigment Inks, Digital Wins.

[John Layton]

Was thinking that OP had issues/questions regarding terminology - and was ready to suggest that we dispense with the term "Black and White Photography" and replace this with "Grayscale Photography." Hmmm...sounds kinda boring actually.

[nolindan]

..."Grayscale Photography." Hmmm...sounds kinda boring actually.

It is a specialist sub-genre specializing in atmospheric views of trees and coastlines. Popular along the northern Pacific coast. Often referred to as the "f-who-gives-a-damn-in-this-fog" school of photography.

[Jim Jones]

It is a specialist sub-genre specializing in atmospheric views of trees and coastlines. Popular along the northern Pacific coast. Often referred to as the "f-who-gives-a-damn-in-this-fog" school of photography.

boring, and certainly doesn't do justice to those few who continue to master the Daguerreotype.

[Drew Wiley]

Mal - Digital color has never caught up yet with what darkroom color has been able to do for more than 75 years in competent hands. In fact, the finest digital printmakers I know, among the world's best, did better color work in my opinion back in their darkroom days. No, not as conveniently, but certainly more compelling work.

And although I can legitimately refer to myself as having been a master of the Cibachrome medium, what can be done in RA4 using the equivalent Fujiflex Supergloss medium exceeds even Ciba. You need to look at optimized results, not just routine fare, when it comes to the potential of current RA4 media.

The most accurate color gamut I've ever gotten was from modern C41 internegs generated from extant 8X10 chromes, including necessary contrast masks, then printed onto current Fuji RA4 material. An expensive, time-consuming route, but worth it for special images. The squirrely color gamut of inkjet stinks by comparison, although with a lot of extra work itself, can sometimes be beaten into submission.

Don't get me wrong. Any truly skilled watercolor painter can mix pigments within minutes to create complex neutrals, subtle hues, or even purer colors which are downright impossible to any color photographic media even today. In that respect, I envy them. By comparison, what inkjet is capable of doing with pigments is Neanderthal.

If Rothko had been confined to an inkjet gamut, then his work would be selling at sidewalk fairs for pocket change.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I prefer to call them, monochromatic prints. I like to use several Alt. processes that have their own unique colour. With Carbon transfer, I can make them in any colour I like. Monochrome emphasises shape, form, light, dark better for me, but sometimes I like the look of a tri-colour gum print :)

[Drew Wiley]

Ain't it fascinating how much of our appreciation of even "monochrome" prints is dependent upon color vision? I'm fanatical about how even "ordinary" silver gelatin prints are specifically toned - not in some over-the-top artsy/craftsy sense, but in a precisely nuanced manner.

[jp]

Not just subtly toned, but also the color/tone/brightness/texture of the paper we print on!

[Duolab123]

It's all good. I tone everything, fiber base paper has always been my go to. I have to say that Ilford's RC, glossy dried with my old Ilfospeed dryer looks pretty great until someone smacks a big thumbprint on it. Still PE paper always has a bit of an ugly sheen.

I processed som E6 6x17 the other day it's beautiful. I will probably scan and inkjet, wish I still could get Cibachrome.

I still dabble from time to time with RA4, start with medium or large format film you can get amazing results.

[Merg Ross]

This exhibition announcement came to my attention today from the Sasse Museum of Art. The accompanying appraisal of black and white photography hits the mark.

It's an honor to have my work included.


https://sasseartmuseum.org/exhibits2024-b&w_collection.htm