Black & White Studies: Richmond's Main Street Station

My  dad seemed to almost always have a camera in his hand when I was a kid.  He photographed studio headshots for models and aspiring actors before I  was born and became the de facto photographer for our church and pretty  all family gatherings later. Good luck finding many images of him in  the family photo albums because he was almost always the one behind the  camera. When I got my first camera and started showing him images for  feedback, he used to highlight his favorite images by saying “this one  would work in black and white”, which was one of the most meaningful  technical compliments he could give. 

The  way my dad saw it, with modern cameras, pretty much anyone can  take a reasonably interesting photo in color, but black and white is one  of the most brutal possible training grounds for people who want to  think of themselves as serious photographers. Trying to tell a visual  story using light as a binary instead of the full color spectrum is one  of the most instructive experiences for a photographer. Working with  the binary of light and varying degrees of shadow forces one to really see  light and conscientiously think about how best to put light and shadow  to work to tell the best possible story. If you’re lucky, you’ll find  pockets of light, shafts of light, and rays of light with which to  inject cinematic drama into your work. But even if such elements are  unavailable, one can still use shading and the positioning of lighter  and darker elements within a composition to frame and celebrate the  subject of an image or scene in interesting ways. 

I  took a quiet post-brunch photo safari last Sunday morning to explore  Richmond’s Main Street Station and the surrounding cityscape, composing  each image specifically for usage as a black & white photo. Was  quite the mental workout, but a useful and fun exercise just the same.  Thanks, Dad. We’ve gotta get you in more of the family photos.