The work of these days
Street Photography in black and white
New insights from recent work: I am a color photographer, although the first phase of mys professional career is marked by black and white as a constant. Constant in the exhibitions, in the published books, in the works carried out also at an editorial level.
However, from time to time I find black and white a safe haven, a way to find myself describing the world and myself in a different way from what color implies. And the experience proves to be regenerating even when I return (usually soon) to color. In the last two days of last week spent to photograph in Downtown I photographed in black and white.
Sometimes I tell myself that I need to be less absolutist. If I enter the color loop I completely abandon black and white which I can do and master quite well. But this is also generated by the fact that now almost all the time I want to see my photography in color. They are two different languages that both allow certain things while leaving out as many. The choice requires a change of mind that sometimes I struggle.
It is a fight with myself. And the moments of elation to those of frustration happen. They are artist things. And things that happen to every human being, I think. The photographic work done in a few hours of the morning (in the evening the hurricane brings its effects here in Mexico City too) allows me to see some mood differences in the act of photographing in black and white. For example I find that I tend to photograph my subjects at closer ranges and that I generally like photos where people fill the frame better. While with color my landscape tendency is best expressed, with black and white in the street I connect with a part of my photography that is a little more daring. Photographic determinism becomes anxious and turns a lot to looking for characters while with the color I see that the background and the contextualization of the shooting scenes take up more space.
In the proposed gallery I offer a selection of images that can present different approaches that dot the galaxy of my black and white street photography.
I have used the work of these days as a study for future projects. It is urgent to return to the micro four thirds that I have not yet been able to achieve. In the video that I propose I analyze this approach that allows me certain things both in terms of aesthetics and content.
