A farm view from Maple Ridge Rd.
Aranac Co. MI
The wonders of color are great, but the magic of Black & White is something special to photographers. When you can look past the reds, blue, and greens to the tones that they are made of does something inside you that makes you think. I find it stimulating.
Iargo Springs Huron National Forrest
between Hale and Tawas MI
Virgina Thompson (grandma) back in 1992
Miss you :(
I have shot many of the same things in both black and white and colour. I find that when I decide to do the black & white pictures it forces me to reevaluate the view of the world for that shot. I am not just looking at what I see but how I see it. Do I see it dark and foreboding, or light and bright with hope. Is it just part of a story, or is it the whole story. What is beyond the reflected light to the reflective light. Past colour, down to tone. I think that is why so many people love Ansel Adams work.
Waterfall Pictured Racks National Lakeshore
Munising, MI (The UP)
The As Sable River, down the path from Iargo Springs.
Huron National Forest
Between Hale & Tawas, MI
Black and White is a much easier to play with method of photography today than ever before, but way to under used. I'll admit that I don't shoot it the amount I should. the big thing that it has done for me is forced me into looking at the world completely differently than just what is presented to me on the surface, but insted I now look for deeper meaning, and "tonal" balance to life. This doesn't change the object of my view, but it does change my view of it. I tend not to see a glass half full or half empty, but as a a half glass. You start to force yourself to think much deeper than you ever did before.
Elizabeth Park grove
Trenton, MI
Old barn along Maple Ridge Rd
Aranac Co. MI
When you look at a subject for a picture and you are thinking colours aren't great, but there is something I just like about this. This is when you go and play with the B&W. If you are going out to an older spot to shoot, like a farm, a outdoor museum (like Greenfield Village...Dearborn, MI, or a old west/ghost town) or on vacation and are driving by an old battle field...these are all ideal places to play with the Black & White settings of the camera or phone your shooting. You'll be amazed at how quickly you will be looking at the world in a totally different way than ever before.
Late Fall Tree
Reed City, MI
The major deal with shooting in Black & White is to look past the color and look for the light. What I mean by this is that the key to the shot is all in the variations in the darks and lights of the subject. How the light falls...where the shadows fall...where and how it all comes together...or doesn't. Look past the color and into the light...or dark of what you are seeing. Once you can see the light of the world, it get much easier to see the world.
Twisted
Hillsdale, MI
Miners Falls in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Munising, MI
Fog on a U.P. pond
Between Escanaba & Munising, MI
Tricia & I at Cedar Point in their old time portrait studio.
Sanduski, OH 1992
Walking bridge entrance to Elizabeth Park
Trenton, MI
Pathway at the Detroit Zoo
Royal Oak, MI
The Lighthouse at Tawas Point
Tawas State park
Tawas, MI
The Railroad bridge over the Huron River
Between South Rockwood & Rockwood MI
Thanks again for stopping by...
Dan Thompson
