The Absence Of Colour

 Me watching Dex watching Sean

Kathy,  Sean and I visited the city to take shots in black and white under the capable leadership of Dex ( and here) who is the Iphone guru in our Focus Group, and by preference shoots without colour. I decided as this was a completely new experience for me that I'd set my camera to the B/W setting and therefore be shooting in auto. It was a liberating experience to have a light easy to manage camera, to view life through monotone eyes and to not have to worry about settings.

The first thing I noticed was a shift in the significance of individual subjects within a possible composition. It was replaced by a more global perspective, somewat akin  to the placement of characters in a stage play. Each unit became important only due to its relationship to the whole. After speaking at greater length with Dex I can only say that I competely agree with him that colour can be the greatest distraction. Colours leap out of a setting and compete with each other, frequently being so jarring that some dynamic compositional shots are bypassed. In the absence of colour, lines, light, curves and angles become dominant,  and for cityscapes I think this persepective is particularly illuminating.

 Playing Chess in Hyde Park

 Dex Playing Model