Dear <<First Name>>

Black and white are the colors of photography. 
To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected – Robert Frank

Black and White photography is the original photographic form, existing in several formats before color was even in available. As a result, black and white images are associated with the early Masters of Photography giving black and white photography a timeless and classic cache. 
 
Many of the leading photographers of the 20^th century not only took their pictures with, and developed their own, black and white film.  They then made their own prints.  At the time, this control of the complete process was an argument in favor of the photograph as art and not merely the product of a machine.  As Ansel Adam’s noted, “The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance,” by a photographer.
 
Black and white images actually work on us in a different way than color.  By removing color from an image, the black and white photograph relies on other characteristics for a strong image.   The black and white image becomes centered around aspects, such as, the subject, the textures, shapes and patterns, and the composition.  Since we see every day in color, its’ removal makes us pause and look more closely at images – there is an enhanced focus on the subject and the emotion. 

Ansel Adams thought color could be distracting and diverted an artist’s attention from the achievement of his full potential when taking a photograph.  In this sense, black and white photographs are considered to be less about reality, as we usually see it, and more about an interpretation of things around us. Some say the black and white image reveals the essence of things.  The aesthetic language of black and white is often associated with being moody -- a somber form of imagery.
 

The Tetons and the Snake River (1942). 
Ansel Adams, one of the great masters, best known for his iconic black and white landscapes, mostly of the American West. Other photographers known for their black and white images include Roy DeCarava, Sally Mann, Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, Henri Cartier Bresson, Edward Weston, Walker Evans, Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Steichen to name a few.
 
From a photographer’s perspective, we often approach photographing in black and white differently than color.  As noted above, there is more focus on composition and textures.  There is also a tendency to visualize the subject and  what the composition will look like in shades of grey. It is like looking through the viewfinder with a monochrome filter on our eyes – you have to look at the image in its stripped down and purest form. In that form, the image is not all about the blacks and whites, as much as it is about the shades of gray.

“Color photography is like a novel that spells everything out in detail, whereas black-and-white photography is like poetry—
its strength isn’t in what’s said; it’s in what’s left out.”  – Heinrich van den Berg