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B & W

boys with fountain
Boys with fountain, Venecia 8/98

B&W is great way to make art. It is abstract, capable to express every single feeling. You can control whole process, decide what to do, in a way not possible with color snaps. Yes, ok, you can use computer to distort image and replace water with green grass, yet I feel it is not the essence of photography. Well, in fact, my best snaps don't require any changes, you only have to develop and enjoy.

Portrait of Radka

B&W is definitely THE way to make portraits. Catching impressions of people is much easier if you don't have to deal with various color corrections... There is also something reserved for B&W - contrast and smoothness of shades. The proper use of film,  developer and print paper (filter grade) can lead you to various and appropriate grain/contrast/sharpness variations. For example, portrait of the left I took on Fuji Neopan 400, exposed as 800ASA, developed in Rodinal diluted 1:25. This created excellent results, as big grain along with high sharpness and contrast allow to emphasis blue eyes and actually black and white - light skin and black hairs/eyebrows.

TBC...