it may not draw you into the stillness of the moment
in a way that a monochrome photo can.”
Even before I was a photographer, I’ve long admired black and white photography. I have vivid memories of my grandmother and I visiting antique shops and while she collected treasures, I sifted through countless milk crates of vintage photographs. Over the years, I began to collect them and created stories about who and what these people could’ve been like. There’s just something different about black and white photography; without any distraction of color – you just see emotion.
When Andrew and I became photographers, we started in the dark room doing black and white portraits. With a background in painting, I was always drawn to the simplicity of the medium. The shadows and light that are so distinctly (and often discreetly) captured from behind the lens. You see people for who they are; their God-given beauty, sincere emotion and a certain whisper of a moment.
Sometimes we find in color photography that your attention is instinctively drawn to a purposeful focal point; perhaps the color of someone’s eyes or their unmistakable red lip. While there is certainly a time and place for those photographs, it may not draw you into the stillness of the moment in a way that a monochrome photo can. When looking at a black and white photo, you may find yourself instead drawn to someone’s distinct features, the curling of their mouth or shape of their eye. Greyscale is a much more raw medium and captures a certain slowness of time.
We’re moved by the nostalgia of black and white photography and have praised photographers like Paul Almasy and Robert Doisneau for their exquisite 1950’s Parisian portraits. Their collections stir a longing of what it felt like to be in that exact moment and we find ourselves heralding back to that sentiment as inspiration when we’re on our signature engagement session shoot or photographing a wedding day.
You’ll find as a client of ours that roughly 20-30% of your final gallery will be black and white, much higher than most luxury film photographers. It is our desire these selections will evoke a true timelessness, much like those photos I sorted through in the antique shop.
If you’re a potential client or planner looking for a dynamic photography team to capture the experience of your wedding, we’d love to hear from you.
