A Pop of Color

About six months ago, almost overnight, I switched from shooting color to shooting black and white. I didn’t really even give it any thought…it just seemed right. Since then, I’ve shot black and white almost exclusively in various forms: 35mm film, 6x6, 6x7, and APS-C digital. It’s been really fun and an interesting challenge…but I never seriously questioned why I just switched or why it suddenly seemed the right thing to do.

Last week, like a bolt of lightning, it came to me: there’s no color in Colorado. Which sounds ridiculous? But…

img Fujifilm GFX 100 II, 50mm 3.5

Browns, greens, sky blue, snow white. That’s what you get. There’s color, it’s just this desaturated mix of earthy. I’ve been around it long enough that it just became monochrome to me and if that’s the case then why not just shoot monochrome? Find ways to make photos interesting that aren’t based in color.

Anyway, all that to say: today I drove up to the Denver Botanic Gardens. For the first time in months I shot in color. It was glorious.

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

img Nikon Zf, Voigtlander 50mm APO-Lanthar f2

I absolutely love bontanical gardens. I think that’s one of the reasons I loved the PNW so much: the humidity, the water, all the heavy green…it felt like living in a big botanical garden. Colorado is so dry and it just sapped any desire I had to take color photos. Which is fine! I’m not mad; I really enjoy the “unreality” that comes with black and white. But maybe it’s time to start mixing it up again.