What might make B&W work in Cem's art?

[Cem_Usakligil]

Every so often, a great thread brings to the forefront important issues and provides perfect material to initiate a really worthwhile discussion topic. When that happens we repurpose copies of original posting. We do this here with posts from Cem's thread, here which presents his recent B&W Paris street pictures. The reaction to the photographs have been overwhelmingly positive, even suggesting that these pictures, despite Cem presenting them as "snaps" may prove to be seen as extraordinary. In the original thread, the common issue of "Why B&W?" emerged. I felt that this
"daughter" topic deserves it's own discussion and Cem's pictures should serve well to kick off the topic. So, we do not need C&C here of the picture, rather the we request your views on the possible special value of using B&W over color for these exceptional photographs.

Please let share your opinions, experience and references to work of others. You do not have to agree that B&W was probably the best choice for presentation of Cem's images! Asher





1. Faire pénitance

2. Le déjeuner

3. Un tableau intéressant

4. Faites vous une photo

Cheers,

 

[nicolas claris]

Hi Cem
I won't repeat what others say, but these are truly good images (an image isn't a pict nor a snap!)…
Though, sorry to be the only one to have a "though" here, I'd like to seem them in colour. Paris is high in colourS (colour being a stone in the American language (they do say color, so poor!;-)

Thanks for sharing!

BTW funny is the comment of Doug, for the women having lunch, my first though was this one is not a Parisienne, she must be American… LoL)

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Cem
I won't repeat what others say, but these are truly good images (an image isn't a pict nor a snap!)…
Though, sorry to be the only one to have a "though" here, I'd like to seem them in colour. Paris is high in colourS (colour being a stone in the American language (they do say color, so poor!;-)

Thanks for sharing!

BTW funny is the comment of Doug, for the women having lunch, my first though was this one is not a Parisienne, she must be American… LoL)

Hi Nicolas,

B&W appreciation is like finding one's palette for great wines. At first, seeing the sommelier going through a routine of pouring sniffing, swirling and tasting appears to be a remnant of some past practice in a Lord's manor, checking a vintage long forgotten, an arrogant vestige of the past. With acquired taste, the palette is trained to sense and enjoy the mysterious orchestration of aromas and flavors and presence from so many other parts of our experience.

Such is the pleasure of observing a great B&W print, where hues of color have been converted to tonalities, bring out the formal beauty of the physicality of the subject matter, devoid of the diversions color might induce. It's just the wine in the mouth with one's eyes closed. The color is no longer important.

Here, Cem's Paris scenes are personal views through the mélange of fast society. He removes the color diversion and stops all the sound. We are left with pure moments that will be seared into our memory. Now we'll return to these pictures again and again and each time they will be complete and still as fresh and alive as they are now.

It may seem counterintuitive to remove the color that creates the attractive patina of things we see. After all, isn't that the truth we are photographing? Well, we could be in a forensic crime scene or a new report. But we are not necessarily after any such truth. We want to get some form of the beauty we see. But we just want to use it for our passion.

However, the rich color, by its nature draws attention to itself or to the parts it covers. That self-importance of color often works against seeing the richness of form and lighting behind the color. We need to get there, where meaning lies. For, as I said elsewhere, it's not what actually is there that makes for art but rather a mirage. So what is this? It's imagined as a kind of unrestricted, uncensored ghost-like personal space within our minds. This needs to be opened up to allow us to go above, below, through and around the physics of the art. In this imagined space we experience an invigorating tour with our own ideas and lunchbox of reflections and questions. Here not only do we get the obvious sensotic* pleasure of the art, but also the ideas we bring to the work that goes far beyond what might be obviously found there.

To test for the need for the color in a B&W picture, ask if it arouses pleasure and brings you to this private place I refer to. If it does do that well, then ask, “In what way might the color version carry out this differently?” Perhaps the color and B&W derivatives of the image file constitute related but different forms of art, each with a unique strength and propensity for a journey you might be tempted to take with your lunchbox!

Asher

*Sensotic is a descriptive term for works of art that I have coined and defined to cover all experience of the enveloping sensuality of beauty, horror or eruptive** or socially constructed emotion that draws us into itself to bathe in the feelings so induced. This experience is seductive before and beyond the boundaries of obvious logic and intellectual argument. However, it not necessarily erotic, good, bad or a route to be closer to a God or some kind "cosmic consciousness". The feeling however, might be enjoyed as any of these, depending or the cultural training of the individual. The activity would be expressed as sensoticism.

**Eruptive EmotionImmediate animal involuntary reactions to stimuli with an automatic unregulated cascade of chemically mediated signals that give rise to arousal of attention and reactions of the "Big Six" of happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, anger, and disgust and then extended, according to Ekman (1999), to include the emotions of "amusement, contempt, contentment, embarrassment, excitement and guilt, pride in achievement, relief, satisfaction, sensory pleasure, and shame."

 

[Will_Perlis]

Here, Cem's Paris scenes are personal views through the mélange of fast society. He removes the color diversion and stops all the sound. We are left with pure moments that will be seared into our memory. Now we'll return to these pictures again and again and each time they will be complete and still as fresh and alive as they are now.

I think the above nails it. It's the distillation of "Paris" that makes these wonderful. I'd like to see them in color just to see if color adds anything to them. I'd think not, but perhaps I'm stuck in the past.

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Here, Cem's Paris scenes are personal views through the mélange of fast society. He removes the color diversion and stops all the sound. We are left with pure moments that will be seared into our memory. Now we'll return to these pictures again and again and each time they will be complete and still as fresh and alive as they are now.

I think the above nails it. It's the distillation of "Paris" that makes these wonderful. I'd like to see them in color just to see if color adds anything to them. I'd think not, but perhaps I'm stuck in the past.

Hi Will,

I fully agree. Cem, probably for a good reason (either deliberate or intuitively), chose to do these images in black and white. Allowing the original colo(u)r might distract, but we don't know. What we do know is that the images work as they are. Whether they would even work better in colo(u)r remains a question, until Cem chooses to reveal (which he may, or may not).

In my opinion, colo(u)r is another compositional element. Sometimes it strengthens the total, sometimes it detracts. One thing is for sure, black and white reduces the optical stimuli to luminance, composition, and content, while colo(u)r could add or detract from the synergy. In my book there is no absolute preference, although my compositions usually incorporate colo(u)r.

Bart

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Lovely images that tell a story

Cem,

These are lovely images, well thought out that tell a story. If color detracts from the telling, then Black and White. But my first choice is always color.

My second comment is what will you do with these? Frame them? Publish them? or store them? That will make a difference too. I've recently been printing a lot of my images and they are so much more when you can touch and feel them aside from gazing at the finished product.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Here, Cem's Paris scenes are personal views through the mélange of fast society. He removes the color diversion and stops all the sound. We are left with pure moments that will be seared into our memory. Now we'll return to these pictures again and again and each time they will be complete and still as fresh and alive as they are now.

I think the above nails it. It's the distillation of "Paris" that makes these wonderful. I'd like to see them in color just to see if color adds anything to them. I'd think not, but perhaps I'm stuck in the past.

Hi Will,

I fully agree. Cem, probably for a good reason (either deliberate or intuitively), chose to do these images in black and white. Allowing the original colo(u)r might distract, but we don't know. What we do know is that the images work as they are. Whether they would even work better in colo(u)r remains a question, until Cem chooses to reveal (which he may, or may not).

In my opinion, colo(u)r is another compositional element. Sometimes it strengthens the total, sometimes it detracts. One thing is for sure, black and white reduces the optical stimuli to luminance, composition, and content, while colo(u)r could add or detract from the synergy. In my book there is no absolute preference, although my compositions usually incorporate colo(u)r.

Bart,

"One thing is for sure, black and white reduces the optical stimuli to luminance, composition, and content, while colo(u)r could add or detract from the synergy."

This is an excellent summary of what is something that's so difficult for a lot of folk to grasp. It seems counter-intuitive that one might be better off without color. The important point you make succinctly is that color might enhance or else detract from the overall impact of the picture, there's no overall simple rule.

For sure, luminance, lines, points, patterns, texture and content with a possible underlying narrative, mythology or other strong connection, provide so much for the photographer to use to attract, engage and seduce the viewer. This is what Cem has used to make his B&W pictures work so well.

Use of color can always be used to provide immediacy, like a red cloak waved in front of a bull or red neon signs on a strip mall in Vegas. However, skilled use of color is harder than that!

The fact that Cem's monochrome pictures work so well, (without what Nicolas misses, the color of Paris), is testament to Cem's skill and the potential richness of B&W. It could indeed be that we are only seeing a fraction of the power of these pictures. However, I'd wager that the richness of the photographs would be from a somewhat different palette of connections and ideas. The picture may be better or not but for sure it will not mean the same to us!

Asher