Welcome to this exploration of the timeless allure of black and white photography. In a world where colours abound and digital advancements continually redefine the photographic landscape, black and white photography stands as a bastion of classic simplicity and profound depth. This art form, transcending the mere absence of colour, offers a unique lens through which we view our world—a lens that distils emotions, accentuates contrasts, and captures the essence of its subjects with an unparalleled purity.
Photographers, both historical and contemporary, have long praised black and white imagery for its ability to convey meaning and evoke feelings that colour photography simply cannot. Through their eyes and their words, we gain insights into why black and white photography remains an enduring and beloved medium. From the striking simplicity of Ansel Adams’ landscapes to the captivating portraits of Richard Avedon, these monochromatic images tell stories, evoke memories, and stir emotions in ways that are both unique and universal.
In this post, I’ll dive into the perspectives of these legendary photographers, exploring their quotes that eloquently articulate the beauty, challenges, and intrinsic value of black and white photography. Whether you’re a seasoned photographer, an aspiring artist, or simply an admirer of visual storytelling, these insights will deepen your appreciation for this classic form of photography and perhaps inspire you to view the world through a different lens—one where shadows, light, texture, and contrast speak louder than colour ever could. Join us as we celebrate the power and poetry of black and white photography.
Black and white photography has a unique ability to convey emotions and perspectives that colour photography simply cannot. Various photographers and artists have expressed their views on the art form through insightful quotes:
- Jason Peterson and Cliff Edom: Jason Peterson states, “Black and white photography erases time from the equation.” Cliff Edom adds, “Black and white photography does more to evoke an emotion and freeze a moment in time than any other medium”.
- Andrew Maclean: Andrew Maclean notes, “The world is in colour, you have to work at black and white.” Mary Ellen Mark reflects, “I work in colour sometimes, but I guess the images I most connect to, historically speaking, are in black and white. I see more in black and white – I like the abstraction of it”.
- Dominic Rouse: “Colour is everything, black and white is more.”
- Jennifer Price: “What I love about Black & White photographs is that they’re more like reading the book than seeing the movie.”
- Ted Grant: “When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. When you photograph people in black and white, you photograph their soul!”.
- Robert Frank: Known for his impactful black and white images, Frank stated, “The eye should learn to listen before it looks,” and “Black and white are the colours of photography. To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected”.
- Henri Cartier-Bresson: A pioneer in black and white street photography, he believed, “It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart, and head”.
- Louis Aragon: His quote, “Light is meaningful only in relation to darkness, and truth presupposes error. It is these mingled opposites which people our life, which make it pungent, intoxicating. We only exist in terms of this conflict, in the zone where black and white clash,” highlights the dramatic interplay of light and shadow in black and white imagery.
- Elliott Erwitt: Known for his humorous and ironic black and white images, Erwitt said, “The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words”.
- Robert Doisneau: He humorously noted, “If I knew how to take a good photograph, I’d do it every time”.
- August Sander: A German portrait and documentary photographer, Sander believed in the power of illumination in photography: “In photography there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated”.
- Ansel Adams: Known for his black and white landscapes, Adams said, “Black and white photography is truly quite a ‘departure from reality’,” and “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships”.
- Richard Avedon: A prominent American portrait photographer, Avedon reflected on his work: “My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph”.
- William Klein: He encouraged authenticity in photography: “Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even it is clumsy, that doesn’t look like somebody else’s work”.
- Imogen Cunningham: Renowned for her botanical photography, portraiture, nudes, and industrial landscapes, Cunningham said, “Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow”.
- Henri Matisse: “I’ve been forty years discovering that the queen of all colours is black”.
- Joel Sternfeld: “Black and white is abstract; colour is not. Looking at a black and white photograph, you are already looking at a strange world”.
- René Burri: “To some extent, the cult surrounding black-and-white photography is based on nostalgia”.
- Ruth Bernhard: “I believe that the essence of photography is black and white. Colour is but a deviance”.
- Elliott Erwitt: “Colour is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive”.
- Ansel Adams: “Black and white photography is truly quite a ‘departure from ‘reality’, and the transition from one aspect of visual magic to another was not as complete as many imagine”.
- Mary Ellen Mark: “I work in colour sometimes, but I guess the images I most connect to, historically speaking, are in black and white. I see more in black and white – I like the abstraction of it”.
- Dominic Rouse: “Colour is everything, black and white is more”.
- Rob Sheppard: “Black and white photography has the potential to make any photographer a better photographer”.
- Stefan Kanfer: “There’s something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery”.
- Anders Petersen: “In black and white there are more colours than colour photography because you are not blocked by any colours so you can use your experiences, your knowledge, and your fantasy, to put colours into black and white”.
- Annie Leibovitz: “My experience of learning in the darkroom with black and white film had limitations that were helpful. There were fewer choices”.
- Karl Lagerfeld: “Black-and-white always looks modern, whatever that word means”.
- Peter Lindbergh: “Although humans see reality in colour, for me, black and white has always been connected to the image’s deeper truth, to its most hidden meaning”.
- Jack Antonoff: “Black and white creates a strange dreamscape that colour never can”.
- Leo Tolstoy: “All the beauty of life is made up of light and shadow”.
- Samuel Fuller: “Life is in colour, but black and white is more realistic”.
- Andri Cauldwell: “To see in colour is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul”.
- Rob Sheppard: “Good black and white photography is not about the removal of colour!”.
- John Beardsworth: “It’s an obvious opportunity for black and white when a scene contains little colour but lots of texture”.
- Dean Sherwood: “Music photographs in black and white are timeless. I can definitely recount more black and white music photographs I love than I can colour ones”.
- Antonia Deutsch: “When shooting a portrait in black and white you are not distracted by the colours and it is much less confused; this allows me to capture the character of my sitter”.
- Martin Parr: “In the ’70s, in Britain, if you were going to do serious photography, you were obliged to work in black-and-white”.
- Philip Jones Griffiths: Discussing Cartier-Bresson’s work, he said, “Let’s assume that all the cassettes of monochrome film Cartier-Bresson ever exposed had somehow been surreptitiously loaded with colour film. I’d venture to say that about two-thirds of his pictures would be ruined and the remainder unaffected, neither spoiled nor improved”.
- Fay Godwin: “Maybe black and white is the best medium for landscapes, I don’t know”.
These quotes from various photographers underscore the timeless appeal and unique artistic qualities of black and white photography, offering insight into why many photographers prefer this medium for its ability to convey deeper meaning, emotion, and simplicity.