Simon and Garfunkel are wrong!

"Everything looks worse in black and white." Not so! Black and white has a simple charm that color cannot convey. Some photographers claim black-and-white photos convey mystery. For me, the mystery of black and white photography is how black and white seems so simple and conveys such complex thoughts and emotions in a way that would get absorbed by color. Black and white has a way of stripping away all the clutter to bring the eye directly to what is important for the viewer. 

I have taken two black and white photos this week that are two distinct products.  For this vintage car, I chose to create a high-contrast image because of its age and also because it has been restored to a like-new finish with a few modern touches.  The actual color of the car was a deep green, which would have competed with other greens in the rather simple background. 

The other photo displays an empty farmhouse that was surrounded by old, dying trees with broken limbs. The darker trees framed the farmhouse, leading the viewer's eyes to the abandoned two-story home. This photo was all about the different textures in the trees and the battered siding on the house, making this photo less contrasty in selected areas and more prickly in others. The softer gray tones on the farmhouse bring the feeling of abandonment and a haunting message.

Many of us would agree with this quote attributed to Walt Whitman about the feel of black-and-white photos. 

"What I like about black-and-white photographs is that they're more like reading the book than seeing the movie."