Color and Why not

Over the course of this summer I shot thousands of photos over a two month period in Ghana. On my arrival home I realized I had enough portraits to make a series. So I set out sifting through and picking the very best of the photos. There were a few decisions I had to make when going into post processing. My first decision was to have them in color or black and white.

Of course I could have both but I wanted a certain consistency to extend through the series. Unlike many of my peers my roots in photography began in a darkroom. I shot on 35mm black and white film for the first two years before I switched over to digital. Because of this I tend to lean towards black and white over color in many of my photo editing decisions. The lack of color in many cases makes some of the photos more tangible to me. The image is less distracting and focus is more on the subject. Especially in portraits. My usual plan is to look at the un-edited photo with and without color. If I feel that the color doesn't add anything to the photo then it becomes black and white.

In the film world of today I feel as if we are seeing less and less black and white films and even less television without color. With newer cameras expanding dynamic range and colorspace at an alarming rate, black and white seems to many people an unviable option. In certain cases its seen as cliche or "retro". I disagree with these statements but I agree that b&w in video is much more of a difficult decision than in photography. In the end it comes down to the decision of the director and what you think will best help tell your story. Choose wisely.


Released in 2013 Ida was an Oscar nominated film in the Best Achievement in Cinematography category

These are some of the photos in my upcoming series.

When Will Film Die?

How many movies in a theatre have you seen in the past year that were shot on film? You could probably count them out on one hand. And at this point everyone knows why that is. Money, money, and more money. With the cost of everything else that is squeezed into a film production it is easy to understand why cutting something that is so expensive is reasonable. Digital movies are cheaper, most times easier to make, and way easier to manipulate in post production. The fact that cinema is dead is nothing new but the question is whether film stock will disappear forever?

 

The simple answer is no. Film is what created this industry and art form into what it is today. And with all the signs of film dying out it may look like it but the fact of the matter is that film will always have it's place. In a similar way to painting you can see the evolution of the materials used to create that art. Using acrylic paint does not mean that your painting is any better than a painting with oil paint. It is just different. And like movies that choice is made because of cost or the personal preference of the filmmaker. The way I see it is that without digital their would be a lot less films and a lot less films means a lot less stories. And who wants that? I don't care what you make your film on or what type of camera you used, just make a film. 

I will not lie and say that you will see a lot of film in the future of Hollywood but with enough money or power their will always be analog. Directors like Chris Nolan, J.J. Abrams, and Quentin Tarantino have fought through the Hollywood main stream to support film. And even in July banned together with the help of their respected studios to support Kodak in it's effort to continue the production of film stock. Nolan and Tarantino have been behind film since the start of their careers and Abrams is currently shooting Star Wars: Episode VII on 35 mm. Hollywood will and always be a business and it's not a surprise why you will rarely see a movie shot on film in a AMC or Regal. In a way it's sad to see less and less of film but always remember that its out there. And movies will always be made. 

Check out the story below:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Quentin-Tarantino-Chris-Nolan-J-J-Abrams-Save-Film-From-Extinction-66537.html