My name is Kirk and this is my first post on Monochromia. I was born in Connecticut but was brought up in Gloucester, Massachusetts here in the USA. I now live in the a very small seaside town next to Gloucester, Rockport, Massachusetts. Where I grew up was a small scenic seaside village north of Boston and it is where I grew to love photography. My father was a real photo buff and Leica collector so my brother and I grew up shooting Leicas. We also had a very good, if not commercial darkroom that was built into our new house at the time. Yes, very lucky, I know.  So B&W imagery has been part of my life for a very long time. In school I studied the Zone system as part of a school project which brought me closer to Ansel Adams and Minor White’s work. I still love looking at some of Adam’s work for inspiration. That being said, my life’s work has been as a photojournalist, not so much landscapes or abstracts. Since my semi-retirement started in August of last year after almost 40 years I have concentrated less on people and more on things. Specifically light and texture. Since discovering Silver Efex Pro and the enormous control it gives you I have been converting much of my work to B&W.

My latest one man show was all black and white. I have been very disappointed in the way color photography has progressed to oversaturated HDR imagery. The word overdone comes to mind so I decided to go the other way with B&W and have found it very calming.

Kirk

You can view more of my work here and also here