seeing the world in black and white

Yesterday was the kind of day for curling up on the couch and catching up on my reading. I purchased the latest eBook from Craft & Vision entitled “The Magic of Black and White: Part One – Vision” by Andrew Gibson earlier in the week and hadn’t had time to read it yet. By now you know that I’m a big fan of these eBooks. They’re cheaper than a photography magazine, have a whole lot less advertising (none actually), and most of all they contain fabulous learning material for aspiring photographers.

I’ve been looking forward to this eBook in particular because I have a strong interest in black and white photography. It is, in many ways, how I grew up seeing the world and I would estimate that about than seventy percent of the photographs my father made were black and white. My first ride in an airplane, my first day of school, the first photographs I took,  and many other firsts, were all recorded in black and white. When I grew older, colour images became more commonplace and my black and white photographs were relegated to shoe boxes at the back of the closet. My return to Africa in January has renewed my interest in black and white photography and I am looking forward to Part Two, the follow-up to this eBook. You can still purchase Part One until the end of March at the discounted price of $4 at the Craft & Vision store using the discount code GIBSON4. I highly recommend it.

Today’s image was taken in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago. My friend Maureen and I wandered around downtown  trying out our new wide angle zoom lenses and catching up following her return from Africa. We stopped in at the Chateau Laurier (seen above) where some of Yousuf Karsh’s portraits were displayed in the lobby. Black and whites no less. I’ve always enjoyed the story behind Karsh’s portrait of Winston Churchill so it was a bit of thrill to see it hanging on the wall along with portraits of Albert Einstein and Pablo Casals. Now if only I could do portraits as memorable these!