Black and White

Black and White portfolio that spans over my entire career and many different locations.

In my early photographic career, more than 50 years ago, black and white was a common artistic choice, and mostly the only subject taught in advanced photography classes and workshops. Now black and white photography is for me an “a posteriori” process, more a revisitation of the past than a shooting choice. All images in this book are digital photographs taken in the last twenty years, they all started in color and only later became black and white.



A revisitation then, a return to my roots in photography – to the scent of chemicals of my old darkroom – when I had to make that decision (color or black and white?) in advance. You had to have in mind the finished product before shooting, decide which film put into your camera, visualizing the final image before creating it. Pre-visualization is still the golden rule for any kind of photography or film making, but it’s essential in black and white with film negative. Not only that, but the choice of high or low contrast film, high or low ISO speed limited the choice to specific scenes or subjects. Black and white removes any distraction of color and focus on other aspects of the image, such as textures, shapes, and patterns, light and shadow, and composition more than the subject itself. Black and white often makes us look at the shot a little longer. With color you usually grab the impact faster. Compared with a color image, in front of a beautiful landscape, people rarely ask “where is it?”. It is almost like the photographer had a more important role in the photograph, than the subject itself.



Some of the images in this black and white book are the same found in my color book Uncommon Places. The color versions talk more about the story of the building, the location, the unusual aspect. The black and white images are less about the subject and more about the visual impact of the photograph itself.