[Leica] was - important aspects, now B&W image?

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

Yes. 40 years, and I'm being quite generous because even 40 years ago 
there was still a decent price premium on colour, especially in 
publishing.

Our aesthetic has been formed by the fact that for a long time the 
main photographic medium was the black and white photograph, and 
colour was not readily available.

Do we say that the Mona Lisa should have been in B&W, or any other 
outstanding painting? Painting developed a colour palette a long time 
ago, and this topic doesn't come up in this way any more, if it ever 
did.

As I said before, if colour photography had been invented before or 
at the same time as B&W photography, this whole discussion of B&W vs. 
colour would never exist.

All that said, I too have a fondness for B&W photos, and the majority 
of the prints I have are B&W. I too grew up with B&W as the main 
formative photographic aesthetic, and the great photos I saw early on 
were almost all B&W.



At 1:41 AM -0500 1/4/11, Mark Rabiner wrote:
>Forty years?!?!?
>I just wiki'd it.
>Try 1840! It started in then 1840's
>" Color photography was attempted beginning in the 1840s. "
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_photography
>
>By 1900 they were cranking the stuff out.
>" In 1898, however, it was possible for anyone with the price in hand to buy
>the required equipment and supplies ready-made."
>Kodachrome? 2011 - 1935  = 76
>
>For me it happened with my second roll of film. In 1960.
>1959 was a black and white world. Color seemed to have been invented in
>Chicago in 1960.
>
>
>--------------------
>Mark William Rabiner
>Photography
>http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/lugalrabs/
>mark at rabinergroup.com
>Cars:   http://tinyurl.com/2f7ptxb
>
>
>
>
>>  From: "Henning J. Wulff" <henningw at archiphoto.com>
>>  Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>  Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2011 22:21:52 -0800
>>  To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>  Subject: Re: [Leica] What are the most important aspects of a 
>> photographic
>>  image?
>>
>>  Reasonably, to make a fair comparison you should then restrict the
>>  photos to those taken in the last 40 or even less years. Whenever
>>  publications had the capability to publish colour photos as readily
>>  as B&W.
>>
>>  Before that, some of those iconic images that we know of might have
>>  been taken in colour if colour film and processing had been available
>>  for the same price as B&W, and if they could have been published for
>>  the same cost.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>  Actually, one thing that has not been mentioned yet...
>>>
>>>  Name 5 iconic color images of the last 100 years.
>>>
>>>  Now name 10 iconic B&W images of the last 100 years.
>>>
>>>  I bet you can do the second one much faster than the first.
>>>
>>>  It's not just that "real photographers shoot B&W," but that B&W has more
>>>  impact, generally speaking.
>>>
>>>  --
>>>  // richard <http://www.imagecraft.com/>
>>>  // icc blog: <http://imagecraft.com/blog/>
>>>  // photo blog: <http://www.5pmlight.com>
>>>  [ For technical support on ImageCraft products, please include all 
>>> previous
>>>  replies in your msgs. ]
>>>
>>>  _______________________________________________
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>>
>>  --
>>
>>         Henning J. Wulff
>>    Wulff Photography & Design
>>  mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
>>     http://www.archiphoto.com
>>
>>  _______________________________________________
>>  Leica Users Group.
>>  See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
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-- 

       Henning J. Wulff
  Wulff Photography & Design
mailto:henningw at archiphoto.com
   http://www.archiphoto.com