Windfall

Day 39: As I've mentioned before, I repurpose the leaves of my deciduous trees as weed-barrier material, soil additives in the form of compost, and as mulch/insulation for frost-sensitive plants. My Desert King fig probably could withstand temperatures into the teens, but as my mother used to say, "Better safe than sorry." After spreading a thick layer of Japanese maple and dogwood windfall over a nasty patch of buttercups at the end of my carport, I had plenty left over to mound up around the fig. This morning, they were touched with frost and struck my eye as beautiful even in their deteriorated state. It is here where black-and-white photography comes into its full rights. When colour would be a distraction in the broad view, monochrome allows us to focus on details: grain, texture, light and shadow. A pile of brown, wet leaves is not a particularly pretty sight, but when reduced to shades of grey, leaf margins and veins pop to the forefront and demand that we recognize them as a major component of the work. Do not dismiss black-and-white photography as a relic of bygone days, but embrace it for what it is: an art unto itself.

Nigella In Contrast

Day 33: As a species, humans tend to think of their visual capabilities as being pretty sophisticated. After all, we can differentiate something in the neighborhood of ten million colors. However, that very function often obscures the finer details of an object by overwhelming the eye and brain. Perhaps that explains why black-and-white photography has maintained its appeal despite the camera's ability to capture "true to life" hues. In a black-and-white image, features which would otherwise have been lost under a barrage of color stand out in greater relief. The maroon markings on the dried, brownish pods of Nigella are barely worth a passing glance in color, but in black-and-white, they become a primary point of interest. Don't ignore your camera's black-and-white mode!