The Marsh in Black and White

Maybe black and white is the best medium for landscapes. I don't know.
~ Fay Godwin

I don't know either. Yet, as much as color enhances, black and white seems to add another dimension to subjects. Perhaps it's by eliminating color that we're able to see form more clearly. In their magnificence, colors can distract and prevent us from looking more deeply at a subject's form and contours.

Just before dawn and dusk, landscapes are void of most of their hues. A similar effect is created by fog. Color becomes less important as one's eyes focus on simply identifying shapes.

Layers of hills and trees become more discernible in the distance. In color, one layer doesn't look too different from the other, but the gradient shades are more noticeable in black and white.



The seasonal palette disappears in the absence of color. It's replaced with forms and shapes that convey a feeling of peace and tranquility.



Perhaps black and white images provide us with a silence for the eyes that affects the soul in a way that's similar to what our ears experience in quietude.

Happiness is the harvest of a quiet eye.
~ Austin O'Malley

by Amy-Lynn Bell