30 Days with the Leica M10 Monochrom: Day 18

“Working in black and white makes me feel like a painter, not a photographer. Shooting this way allows me to focus my attention on the light and shade, textures, shapes, and expressions. It’s really a matter of personal choice, but in my opinion, black and white can lead to a more abstract reading of reality, which is arguably more demanding and more challenging to produce. Here photographers cannot use flattering colors or colored light to distract the eye. You cannot cheat in black and white.”

Guy Gagnon

I know I’ve mentioned this several times so far in this series, but abstraction is such a recurring theme in black and white photography. The fact that the format automatically takes one step away from a perfectly faithful rendering of reality somehow frees me up to experiment with completely random shots like this one. They definitely don’t all work, but even when they don’t the exercise still help me learn to see the world in more creative ways.