Black White Photography - UK (2019-11)

68
B+W

›Googling it, I felt a moment

of deflation, wondering if

there were equally similar

arrangements (3, 4 and 5) that

might turn the edginess into

something formulaic but, no,

it seemed Whistler stopped

there. In just two paintings,

the similarities provide

striking gender comparisons

of the day. There are so many

photographic lessons to be

learned from artworks like

this: who would title a picture

of their parent in such

abstract terms?

Of course, there are lessons

(both good and bad) to be

learned from every work of

art and from the way each

artist works. The tranquility

of Delacroix’s courtyard

garden, photographed here,

was striking for its inward-

looking contemplative silence,

compared to the bustle of Paris

immediately outside. It made

me wonder how the enclosed

garden that my two small

London home studios look on

to affects my own creativity.

Which reminds me, there

was something I read in Sally

Mann’s book about her staying

on her farm for five weeks

making photographs, without

even visiting the food store.

Inward-looking is good, so

is dedication, but ultimately

her images made their way

to a gallery and, just like the

Whistler, there is no substitute

for getting out and seeing the

real thing hanging on a wall.

envisagebooks.com

openstudioworkshops.com

Above The realisation

When I think of Paris and art galleries, I always think of impressionism.

So much of it relies on colour for its contrast and vibrancy, and a sense

of light for its joyous feeling of life. How do we achieve something similar

in monochrome, without being overly reliant on contrast or making images

that are too light-infused and overly revealing? Subject-wise, much of

impressionist painting focused on the everyday rather than the spectacular,

which I relate to, as I feel it echoes my own approach to photography.

‘Inspiration and originality are

so often about the unexpected.’