WHY IS BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY TIMELESS?

Black and white photography: a lasting success

Black and white photography, or monochrome as its aficionados call it, has always enjoyed a success that continues to this day. Indeed, there are countless publications that use the absence of color to communicate through images, including in advertising. This is evidenced, for example, by the impressive number of Instagram accounts (the visual network par excellence) entirely dedicated to black and white photography, some of which exceed a million followers! This is just one example among others of the timelessness of monochrome photography and the emotions it arouses today.

For a long time, photography existed only in black and white; just look at the 20th-century press or classic photographs of Paris. Doisneau, Ronis, and Brassaï photographed almost exclusively in black and white. Yet today, their photographs still arouse just as much emotion. And then, the great names of 20th-century photography often used only black and white.

So what explains why the craze for black and white photography is so strong in the age of color, 4K, and ultra-high resolution? What do we like to find in a black and white photo? What explains such success?

1 - Black and white photography is timeless

When all chromatic aspect has disappeared, it is almost impossible to precisely date the shot. Because if color uses renderings specific to an era, like Kodachrome in the 70s, Kodak Gold for the 80s/90s or Fuji Superia, with black and white this signature of an era fades further. Certainly, a discerning eye may recognize an Ilford film on a classic photograph but the timeless aspect of black and white will make monochrome photography less susceptible to fashionable trends. To escape the contemporary while remaining contemporary, that is the small miracle of black and white photography. The paradox is that photography without color remains timeless while still being trendy. And then when we look at a black and white image, we think of the classic era of photography and what is classic devalues less over time. The classic aesthetic of black and white guarantees street photography, for example, to last over time. The life expectancy of a black and white photograph is much longer than that of a color photo.

With black and white photography, the viewer goes straight to the point because they are no longer distracted by color. They can thus focus on the shapes, light, and composition, and thus the timeless elements of the image, which becomes more universal and understandable. Perhaps more authentic, too, because it seems to belong to an already ancient story in which one can project or identify.

Finally, for a photographer, there is nothing to prevent him from photographing in color and then revisiting his image in post-production in black and white and thus reconnecting with the history of his art and truly inscribing himself as an artist. Software dedicated to the art of black and white allows for extremely fine work on an image to result in a truly personal and artistic photograph.

2 - Black and white photography arouses more emotion

A monochrome photograph will often have much more power over the viewer's emotions than a color one. This is because black and white photography focuses much more on expressions, strong contrasts, and light. The evocative power of black and white photography is obvious, insofar as a black and white photo tells more of a story than a color one. Would you imagine Dorothea Lange's famous photo "The Migrant Mother," taken in 1936, in color? Would it have the same power, the same poignancy? Would we experience the despair of this mother and her children with the same force? Long after looking at this photograph, we still think of it because it remains iconic and moving almost 90 years after it was taken. It is still very relevant today. And of course, the aesthetic aspect of the image is remarkable, with the detail of the textures and the softness of the black and white, which contrasts so much with the mother's lost gaze. In a hundred years this photo will still remain very much alive despite or thanks to the absence of colors and the strength of the subject treated of course.

3 - Black and white photography gets to the point

With the absence of color, it is impossible to resort to the artifice of overly flattering rendering which would take precedence over the essential and which would make one forget, for example, a somewhat weak or even non-existent composition, a mediocre or even non-existent subject. In black and white, the lines, the contrasts, the highlighting of lights and textures are the essential points on which the photographer must concentrate to deliver a beautiful monochrome photograph.

A bad color photo will still be bad in black and white. You can't make good food with bad ingredients. Because not all places, not all subjects work in monochrome. Black and white doesn't forgive approximations in composition, the moment of shooting or the choice of monochrome subject. This is why strong contrasts, strong lines and clear shapes work more effectively in black and white than in color. With black and white, there's no fuss: the subject and nothing but the subject.

4 - Monochrome photography loves minimalism

Minimalism is a very current trend, and not only in photography. A minimalist photo is deliberately simple, eliminating any visual confusion and working with a reduced number of elements when composing the image, whether at the time of shooting or behind a computer. And a successful monochrome photograph is often based on a composition stripped of superfluous details, favoring simple backgrounds and lines. This is also one of the reasons for the success and contemporaneity of black and white in photography.

Indeed, the black and white photographer often uses negative space, that is, an empty space around his subject. He will also look for simple shapes, soft curves and well-defined geometric forms. Since minimalism in color must use a reduced palette of colors, it is quite natural that the photo in shades of gray will look at home in minimalist mode, thanks to the visual balance it will guarantee, in particular with the neutral tones it brings. However, the photographer will have to pay careful attention to his composition. and also in the choice of a single subject.

5 - black and white photography meets a demand

Photographing in black and white is a response to a demand from collectors, particularly those who only buy black and white photography, which they consider to be the only truly artistic. Many online or physical galleries primarily exhibit black and white, or even offer only that! On Instagram, many users swear by black and white, and the hashtag "black and white" has generated more than 7 million posts in France alone! Even future brides and grooms are increasingly asking their photographer to include black and white in their photo album.

But it's also a request from photographers who often use applications that allow them to work on the black and white they love. They can thus create images in accordance with contemporary and timeless tastes, while trying to work on a more personal style. Some of the software I use in my work allows me to obtain sumptuous results, even if it is very time-consuming. And then what a pleasure to rediscover a little of the atmosphere of the darkroom, even if it is digital, and to have the feeling of developing a photograph, the black and white photo of which we dreamed.

Black and white photography: both popular and elitist

In conclusion, the undeniable success of black and white photography is based on its timeless aspect, on the fact that it arouses more emotion than a color photograph and that it also goes straight to the essential, to simplicity and with the success of minimalism this aspect is reinforced. Finally, black and white photography responds to a demand from the public and photographers.

But I believe that the major reason that explains the phenomenon of the omnipresence of black and white in photography is linked to the artistic image that it conveys. In the mind of the "consumer" of black and white, whether collector or simple spectator, buying or looking at a black and white photograph is buying or looking at art. It is to be part of an artistic and historical movement and in a certain way it is to think that one belongs to the world of true connoisseurs of photography, far from the facilities of industrial color photography reserved for the masses. Black and white photography therefore seems to be both elitist and popular.

Because the elitist aspect of photography is very real, even if it should not make us forget that the photographs that reach record prices at auction are color photos, like those of Cindy Sherman or Andreas Gurski. These may be the future timeless classics.

I know that there are many other things that could be said on this subject, for example the fact that color photography is also timeless in certain aspects, with the work of pioneers of color photography like Saul Leiter or Ernst Haas to name only the most illustrious.