{Guest Post} Back in Time by Tracey Clark

 Oh my goodness... I'm so excited.....the super talented...always inspiring....  Tracey Clark is here to share with us today! Woo hoo.... Be sure to check out the surprise below her beautiful words and images.

Take it away, Tracey.....

My love affair with photography began in black & white. Before the digital age, you had to make a decision what kind of photograph you wanted to create. For me, it was always black & white. Roll after roll, shooting with a monochromatic palette, I began to actually see the world around me translated through the absence of color. It helped to hone my photographic eye. I became a stalker of light, of shadow, highlights, shade, shape, curve, space, composition and expression. When you remove the color from the image, each of these things becomes even more important. 

Since then, I’ve come to embrace the digital age and have learned to love (and depend on) seeing the shot in color first. After the fact, with the click of my mouse, I can change it on a whim. It’s changed how I see the world. I still see all of the things I saw before only now I have the luxury of choosing how to proceed. Color or black & white? And I usually make my choice on a shot to shot basis. Now, every shot can ask for something unique. Each one tells me what it would like to be. I listen and follow along.

Even still, I am 100% certain that laying my photographic foundation in black & white made me the photographer I am today. I’m not so sure I’d be able to see all of the elements I see, all of the things that make up a strong image, if it weren’t for the monochromatic practice. Would I still know the way the light shapes things and bring them to life, the importance of gesture and expression, the way every part of the frame is a narrative? I’m not sure. I just don’t know if color makes you work hard enough to not only see those things, but also to put them to good use in your images. I guess at this point there’s no real way to tell but I can say that with Picture Black & White, I am eager to shoot with black & white in mind again. I am looking forward to the challenge of going back to basics, of revisiting my beginnings, and reminding myself of where and how my passion was sparked.

Why is it that black & white images from the past stir our souls? Is it just a coincidence that all of the black & white images I cherish feel timeless, classic, and true? I doubt it. Black & white isn’t just where I began in photography; it’s where many of us began experiencing photography, whether by shooting or just by looking at early images. Black & white photography is a part of our history, part of who we are. And no matter how much amazing and awesome technology there is to help us capture life in living color, traveling back in time to where it all began will never get old. 

.....

Thank you Tracey... I adore your B&W imagery.

Fabulous News

Tracey is offering 3 lucky winners a spot in her upcoming class, Picture Black & White. 

To enter, leave a comment below sharing your thoughts/ideas/experience with Black & White Photography. Be sure to enter your email address in the info box.

The lucky winners will be announced tomorrow evening (May 2nd).

Update on May 2 by Kim Klassen

Thanks so much for your wonderful comments.The winners have been choosen... 

Congrats to Deanna Swauger, Jo Nelson & Donna Hopkins. 

It's not too late to sign up for the class.... pop over to the registration page to check it out.

Comments

[Eva Millan]

My feelings about B&W? In love with it. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Debbie]

I'm probably too late, given I live in Australia - my memories of black and white photography go back to college in 1993, when I lived in the black and white darkroom for up to 9 hours a day. I loved working with the chemicals and sitting there watching the image come alive in the various 3-step process and the way you could manipulate by burning and dodging and experimenting with all the older alternative processes - this is where my love for photography started.... and now we are digital I somehow feel restricted with what you can do in converting to black-and-white, I would love the opportunity to go back and rekindle that excitement and joy and bring it forward into my current work.

It would be a great opportunity, that's for sure.

Cheers and blessings
Debbie (from oz land)

2nd May 2012 (6:04 PM EST)

[Ana]

I love B&W photography too and I am on the process to learn more about it, the tips will sure help me... and the class too!
Right now I am learning about DOF, sharpness, composition... a brand new world to discover and enjoy!
Thanks Kim and Tracey for sharing with us!

[Helena Ryan]

Good Black and White photography is timeless. In an age of colour a great black and white can still take your breath away, it somehow shows you an essential beauty that colour can detract from. The trick, as you say, is to learn to see it.

[Carol aka traveller]

I always take photos in colour and have experimented occasionally with converting them to black and white or sepia and love how they change the atmosphere of the image. I would love to take a course that would improve my skills in seeing things differently

[Kathy]

I adore B&W photos, but am afraid to let myself go there. I find that I am never certain when b&w is best to use. Help!

[Jennifer Evans]

I love B&W. I often find that I find details that sometimes get lost in color photos. The thing that I love most about it is that there are so many ways to do B&W. Change the tone and you change the entire feel of the photo! Thanks for the opportunity!

[donna hopkins]

My favorite images from my childhood are all black and white. Pictures that are simple and clean and tell the story of growing up. In today's very complicated and often disconnected world, black and white pictures bring focus and clarity - just what we all need.

[Deryn Mentock]

Great photography does require "seeing" things in a different way. I've always loved black and white, myself, and covet a spot in this class. Thank you for offering such a gift!

[Pam]

I love b&w! I just never can trust myself to choose which photo is right for it.

[Mary]

I would love to take this class, black and white photos make my heart sing. We've come so far from the days I spent in a dark room developing film and printing photos. :O)

[Jo]

I just love it.

[Jacquie]

I spent my childhood watching my father take wonderful black and white photographs, which I treasure now that he is no longer with us. Two years ago while suffering from empty-nest syndrome, my husband bought me a digital camera. My life is now full again - with photography this time, but how I wish I had my Dad to ask all those questions and share this "thing" that was so special to him. I love the intensity of good black and white photographs - you seem to see the detail so much more than when distracted by colour. I strive to make better black and white photographs and am learning all the time, and I would very much like to participate in your lovely course.

[kam]

What a great sounding class. I have always loved the old photos there seems to be so much emotion in a vlack and white picture. The story just seems richer.

[MaryHLovesLucy]

I love B&W...the simplicity and detail...but have difficulty 'seeing' in B&W.

[kathyc]

Love, love, love the look of black and white photos...but I have no experience in purposefully setting them up...just hitting the "magic" bw button in elements... :)

[Grandma Deal]

I didn't realize how many shades of 'Black and White' there are until I started working with the PS Elements. Then I purchased a camera with the capibility to shoot color or black and white. Now I would love to expand my abilities to create B&W. One of my favorites that I've done is a photo of my granddaughter.

[Marilyn]

Hi Tracey. I have just been thinking of taking aB&W course but e
Was still inching my way around. This sounds like a wonderful course and I would love to be selected.

[Patsy Tabbert]

I love B&W. Back in the days of having to choose your film type, I did a roll of B&W one Christmas. No one else understood why I would do that but I absolutely love the photos from that Christmas!

[genie robinson]

Dear Tracey...
I love black and white with a passion because that is what I grew up with...and then came color...and then came digital. My, we have come a long ways in my 73 years. I feel so good about myself when you say using the back and white in the beginning helped you to be the wonderful photographer you are today. With the digital age we a lll get to flip back and forty with color and black and white, but still it latter I prefer. I am fascinated with all linear qualities....straight lines alone and mixed with lines going in other directions, circles....anything that goes from A to B either straight or curved I like and their interaction is exciting. I really love the “Mundane.” ..those little things we have and use that do the BIG jobs...i.e. a bolt holding the screen on the sides of a swinging bridge. Yes, I would give my right arm to win a chance to take your class. I love all of Kim’s and have learned so much. genie

genier39@gmail.com

PS...I have sent emails to several addreses before finding this one. Now, I think I am at the right spot.Sorry about that. genie

[Erika (gashuttergirl)]

I started my photography journey with Black & White film. There are times when I actually miss smelling the chemicals that we used to process the film and make prints. I loved my darkroom time in high school. I am already registered for Picture Black & White (and have participated in all the other Picture Series classes). I can't wait to get started tomorrow.

[Angela]

Black and white photography speaks to me in a way no other does. It focus's my eye to the beauty, the way a stark snowy landscape does.

[Tiene patitas]

I like black & white photography. It gets me to the begining of photography, to the magic experience of the light touching the sensitive substances, as it touch mu eyes and my soul. A black & white image contains the essence of the moment, nothing disturbing what's important. (I would like I could express better in English, I hope you understand what I mean, althogh I've used few words).

[Jessica]

Thank you for a great opportunity! I like to use B&W with my scrapbooking. So classic!

[Michelle]

I would love this class! No matter how hard I try, I just don't achieve very good black and white photos. I'm missing something...I know it. I just don't know what it is or how to fix it. :::Crossing my fingers my name will be picked:::: Thank you for offering this. It sounds wonderful!

[Neringa]

This is just so beautiful... the images and the thoughts. I've read somewhere (I can not remember who wrote this or where I saw it) the phrase that sounds (more or less) like this: 'When you take a photo in color, you capture the clothes. When you take a photo in Black and White, you capture the soul'. And I absolutely agree with this.
Thanks so much.

[Geri]

I like a good black and white as there isn't color grabbing for your attention. I am not the greatest photographer but I do have photos I like and if they are in color I turn them into black and white out of curiosity. I think quilting taught me that.

[Sherri]

I would love to be in the class.

[Shelagh P]

B&W photography makes me think of my first photography class in college. I remember how much I loved going into the dark room and developing and printing my photos in B&W. It would be fun to take this class and shoot in B&W more.

[Kerrie]

Love Black and White! Great post. Thx!

[Bev]

I love B&W photography and would love to learn how to improve my images.

[Karen]

Born before color film was even processed much, black and white congures childhood memories of peace and simplicity. I recently restored a very small black and white torn picture of my dog and me in the back of an old pick-up truck. The process brought much continentment. I would love to take a Black and White class.

[Ms. Becky]

my first love in photography was black and white film. When in college in the 70's 35mm was what we used. The very first time I can recall feeling creative was when I was in the darkroom for my first class, watching as the image slowly appeared on the paper. I still have my first 35mm film camera, a Pentax MX and occasionally take it out for a spin. Though digital is easy and less wasteful, there's still a romance about film photography that is unequaled.

[Carrie]

I find it interesting how black and white makes it so much more clear the emotion that is to be felt from an image. Being black and white the image gets stripped down to the basics, removing distractions, and making it that much easier to understand the true focus of the image. With a black and white, you can take a seemingly emotionless image and infuse emtion into it.

[Kellie]

Absolutely gorgeous photography. B&W is not something that I have experimented with very much, but I would love to begin doing so.

[PG]

I'm a lover of light and shadows. I adore black and white photography.
I would love to take this class.

xo, PG