Why Black and White?

When I deliver a gallery to my families and seniors, there are often a scattering of black and white images.

I am truly most attracted to colorful, vivid, bright, contrasty images that are happy and vibrant!

At the same time, I always want images to convey meaning and emotion...and over time, I have seen how black and white photos offer a more poignant perspective...it pulls out the raw emotion of the moment...

Sure, the color image may be fine, but in certain instances, it doesn't hold a candle to the negative space created by that two-toned edit...

I often have families requesting the color representation of certain black and white edits that I scatter in the gallery...

I know the reason they are attracted to the image, however, is the very reason for which they are requesting it NOT to be that way...They FEEL something when they see the image, they smile or laugh or it tugs at their heartstrings...sometimes I do include the duplicate version in black and white, but sometimes I do not...because I know that side by side, the color version falls so short of what I try to produce to represent my heart, my style, the WHY behind what I do...

let me give you a few examples of how things look through my eyes:

I changed this first one into black and white because the house in the background was too much of a distraction in the color...I wanted the focus to remain on the boys...on the wrestling and the tumbling...not the grass or the location...

I love coordinating color matching for families...and I love this momma's sweet smile...these are images taken within seconds of each other...The one below speaks volumes to me in terms of a memory and a moment caught...

Another example of how, although, I"ll giggle for a ginger headed kiddo anyday of the week...the black and white version of this photo focuses directly to those smiles and the JOY of them being together...not distracted by background colors or even their beautiful hair...

So there you have it...that is my crazy reasoning behind my workflow edits of black and white coloring...The banner on my blogsite states: memorable, happy and meaningful...It starts with how I "see"life through the lens with each of my unique families...but, the bonus work happens through the edits, where I search for the happy spotlight, the meaningful connections and the memorable moments and showcase them in a way that freezes time and give my families something to cherish for a lifetime!