After doing a spot of research into the black-and-white photography of Eugène Atget, Michael Schmidt and Sally Mann, I decided to explore the use of the flat daylight preferred by Atget and Schmidt and look at how changing the photographs from colour to monochrome affected them.
The photographs were taken around midday when there would naturally be fewer shadows, but the sky was very overcast anyway. The light was what I would describe as ‘soft’. The lack of shadows does as Schmidt said allow the real shapes of things to be seen. It was interesting to see how converting the photographs to black and white made some of them more interesting and I could understand why Schmidt felt that colour could be intrusive, bringing its own interpretation on a scene.
The image above works equally well for me in colour or black and white. I think this is because there is a wide range of colours; the yellow lines, the red lights, the blue tarpaulin, orange lichen and the green door.
The churchyard becomes more atmospheric in black and white. The shapes of the graves and the twists in the tree trunk become the focal point rather than the green of the grass. The same is true of the photograph below, the black and white creates a less cluttered image and the focus is on the person, my long-suffering husband, rather than the bright balls in the window.
References
Buchanan, K (2021) Daylight Research [Online] Available at: https://katie9.home.blog/research/daylight-research/. Accessed on: 02/01/21
Katies Photographic Journey 