You don’t have to be an avid photographer for long before you hear the virtues of black and white photography preached. What does this have to do with making the best of a bad situation? Before we directly broach that, let’s take a step back to our childhood.

Most all of us had building blocks when we were kids. We enjoyed seeing who could build the tallest tower, then the thrill of playing demolition crew, and then building all over again. When I first mentioned those blocks, what were some of the first mental images that came to you? For most, color comes in first or very soon after. Building blocks have been around for decades and are still a staple toy today. They are ubiquitous not only because they are fun, but because those red, green, orange, yellow and blue blocks teach children about color. The names of colors are among the very first things we learn, and we go on to learn that important meaning is often attached to colors. Red means “stop” and “danger”; green means “go”.

Is it any wonder then that when we start our photographic journeys we gravitate toward color, and our first instinct is to capture color. How many landscape photographers have sunsets in their portfolios? The answer is “all of them”. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t have anything against sunsets and I would being lying through my shutter if I told you I have not photographed many myself. I love them, too. Let me ask this, though: Have you ever seen a stunning black and white photograph of a sunset? They do exist, but are fewer and far between. Why is that?

To hone in on part of the answer, allow me to ask another question: have you ever seen stunning photograph of a botanical in black and white? For most or even all of us, the answer is “yes”, yet when we think of flowers we are also extremely likely to think first of color. So, why are there more captivating monochrome photographs of flowers than of sunsets? 

Dreary Day Botanical

To answer that question, we need to go back to our childhood building blocks, which in turn takes us back through “making the best of a bad situation” and all the way home to “Finding Beauty in Everything”. Though our first thoughts of and lessons from our blocks are about color, they also taught us other things. They taught us about circles and triangles and squares and rectangles and cylinders. They about taught us about shapes and form and lines, and in a subtle ways also about reflective light and depth.

Now think again about a dramatic monochrome photograph of a flower. Why is it still captivating? Because it dominates the frame with elemental forms and lines, and conveys layers and depth. In other words, a photograph of a flower is not just about its color. It can not only captivate and stand on its own without color, but the absence of it actually showcases the sheer beauty of its form. Can this be done with sunset photographs as well? It is very difficult and rare, but yes it can. If you can go back to a memorable monochrome sunset, study it closely. It is very likely that its form and lines and the direction of light are extraordinary, and why it can stand up in the absence of color.

So what does all of this have to do with “making the best of a bad situation” and “Finding Beauty in Everything”? It is very simple: When bad weather like Jason had in the Spokane settles in, the color we gravitate toward is absent. That should not mean that our cameras and photographic vision have to go in our bags until the sun and color return. Look for lines that pull the viewers’ eyes into your photograph. Find shape and form that can fill the frame and strongly communicate your subject and message. Look for ambient light that tells a story; if you look hard enough, you will find it exists even when it is dreary and rainy and there is no color in site.