When I look at the photographers that I admire, I notice that a lot of them skew towards black and white work. Ansel Adams did some color work but I think most admirers of St. Ansel will agree that his best photos were in the monochrome realm. David Plowden has stated that he does not think that he sees well in color (although, I have to admit, I love the quiet color in Floor of the Sky: The Great Plains, one of the few books that features any of his color work). There are more examples I could list but I think a lot of the stories are probably the same.
Rods, eccentrics, valve gear, wheels and the rest of Santa Fe No. 2912’s beautiful machinery still seem magnificent in afternoon light despite the fact that her firebox hasn’t been lit in decades.
YashicaMat LM, Kodak E100VS (Converted to B&W in Lightroom)
I think it’s a case that color adds another component to balance in a shot. Working in B&W leaves the photographer to ponder composition and light. Color can skew that because it can disrupt the coherence of those two components. I don’t know if it’s a crutch for me or just that sometimes I see better in black and white, but I find that I often skip the color component and let tone and composition again rule in an image. Such is the case with this image of Santa Fe No. 2912 in Pueblo, Colorado. While the golden light that illuminated the scene was appealing to me and my last roll of E100VS rendered it very beautifully, it just seemed like it dominated the photo. I was far more interested in the tones of the image and less about the colors. So I did the unthinkable and converted a picture taken on E100VS to B&W. Hopefully St. Ansel would know where I’m coming from and approve. 😉