Colorless December 2014

Many things have had me thinking in black and white recently. There is a challenge going around facebook where people challenge others to post 5 black and white photos, and tag others to get more people involved.

    Initially, I resisted. Mainly because, well, I am a resister at heart. But there was something more to it. I started off shooting black and white only for newspapers. If you were lucky, a color shot in a Sunday magazine every now and then. The world was black and white, even when we switched to color print film.
   
     Obviously that all changed, and it is now the rare inside jump page photo that gets the B/W conversion treatment.

    I always liked black and white. I like the clean way it makes you think of light, how to concentrate on what is important and make the backgrounds clean and clear. And of course its forgiving nature when it comes to exposure, white balance, and deep inky blacks.

Sunset at Hidden Lake Dec. 1, 2014

So I decided to make Dec. 2014 my Colorless December. After shooting this sunset from the lake next to my house, I have had enough color for this month (work requirements aside, of course) and will post only black and white images this month.

    Some will be archival, new scans of old negatives, some previously scanned and posted, but mostly new. I may even break out an old film camera and shoot some tri-x. Without needing an enlarger, and a darkroom, developing black and white film is dirt cheap now, and with a changing bag, can be done anywhere.

    So, here is the first day, short of the ones already on flickr and posted elsewhere.