Black and White Photography
This particular black and white photography relies heavily on an aesthetic I’ve experimented with over years of shooting.
A combination of ideas and styles have merged together to form a creative process. Inspired by pictorialism, wabi-sabi, abstraction, reduction, graphite and charcoal sketches. Sketches and charcoal are often the biggest inspiration driving the need to create photography that takes on a whole other presence.
The monochromatic images are littered with small deliberate imperfections. Such as, scuffs, hairs, and dust. Subject matter succumbs to irregular definition with areas swallowed by blurring. Along with high grain and a textured approach, these black and white photos take on an obscure aged feel.
The black and white photography aesthetic
The aesthetic has roots to my inception with photography, which was analogue black and white photography. When first shooting film I experimented using high ISO film, soon becoming fascinated with the grain of film.
Pursuing grain in digital photography has led to the development of this style and process. Digital photography does not hit the mark in terms of grain. Film enlargement only makes the grain more prominent. Enlarging a digital image only degrades the fine details of grain.
Firstly, the process involves a digital image to be printed. This print is then manipulated outside of a digital sphere in various ways. Secondly, after the manipulation is complete, the print is photographed in sections and stitched back together digitally.
The final image is a photo that is rich in a fine grain and texture. Each black and white photo is created to exist as a print.