Sitting in the Park

…and enjoying the view. Wondering what are the stories of the people passing by.

Passing through

Black And White Photography, Patti, Photography

It would give me every amount of pleasure to say I picked up the photography bug through the childhood influences of a parent, friend or relative who owned a half decent camera, let alone a dark room or even the tickle of the bug. Economic circumstances limited my childhood photographic experiences. Film and its development were luxuries, clicks to be taken on special occasions, our family photos almost all a set of poses. Yet my memories of such photos all belong outside the frame, to events before and after. How cute we were, sitting on the grass dressed in our Sunday best in the grounds of the hospital where my father took us to visit my sad, unhappy mother.

That was then. It was also a time when photojournalists sent shots over the wire of hyper-reality, from a man bouncing about on the moon to the burning highways of Vietnam and everything in between. Every expression, every feeling known to man, woman and child. Photography could be an adventure, a learning experience, a window into life, anything we wanted it to be. I so wanted to be a part of it.

This is now. After years of recording family adventures, smiles, tears, the whole kit and caboodle on film, I finally moved to digital along with a move from London to New York. Where I knew no-one. Where I now walk the streets shooting people. Where with my camera I am never lonely.

Through the digital process and accumulation of posts at Nylon Daze I have been so grateful to have connected with so many talented photo-bloggers and I thank Joe from The Visual Chronicle for the invitation to be part of this exciting adventure. With the play of light and shadow, the intriguing visuals of Black & White photography lure us in to absorb and reflect. To make of it what we will. To make it our own.

Or so we hope, but then, what is the fun of photography without hope!

Miscou Island

Meho

My name is Meho and I am a bench player here at Monochromia so I will be posting less often. I am very exited to be part of this group of bloggers. I would like to thank Joseph for the time he has put into making this blog a reality and the effort to gather everyone.

This is my debut to Monochromia. This photo was taken in Acadie, New-Brunswick. This is exactly at Miscou Island (google maps). This is a picture from the stairs of this old Lighthouse. I like the angle on this picture and the deep shadows and blacks.

I’ve always been impressed Lighthouses. They are symbolic to a bygone era.

I was introduced to photography for the first time in the late 1980’s with my father’s old Minolta 35mm. Even at this young age, I was passionate about photography. Later I decided to study photography at school, but my dreams came to an end when I realized that the courses I had just taken would have brought me to a career at a photo processing shop or at Sears family photo. It was at that point I decided to request a bank loan and buy a camera (a used Nikon F1). I went with my heart and decided to take the artistic way… damn it.

For those who are not familiar this was a time (1995), where photography and processing your images was a fairly expensive endeavor. The prices for paper and chemicals were on the rise not to mention the expense of setting up a darkroom. We were at the end of the film photography era and at the very beginning of digital era. It was like no man’s land! I had no choice but to give up photography. My financial situation was the one of a typical political science student in Montreal.

Some years later what really helped to get back my passion for photography was the WWW (world wide web), and the wave that was sweeping the world, affordable digital cameras. I say the web because I think it is primordial the be able to share your images with a community. And affordable digital gear gave me the opportunity get back into photography with less effort.

I am running my computer on a Linux operating system so, the software I use are Gimp and Darktable. These are both powerful open source software built by a community of developers and are available to anyone, free of charge.

Some facts about me :

Born : September 1975 in Quebec city
Cities where I lived : Montreal, Québec and Canmore, Alberta
Gear: Canon EOS Rebel T3 and Tamron 17-50mm
Favorite music : The Cinematic Orchestra, Amon Tobin, Radiohead… Jazz and baroque music
TV : I don’t watch to TV, except when it’s a documentary
Books : I like to read, but for some years now, I can’t read for more than 2 pages without falling asleep
Sports : In general I am not a sports fan but… I am a big fan of ice hockey
Photograph type : I love taking any type of pictures except for studio. Too expensive for me at the moment.

You can see more of my images at Le Mehograph

Milking Barn

Black And White Photography, Joseph, Photography

1/350 @ f/8.0

My name is Joe and photography has been a passion of mine for a very long time. I have never worked as a professional photographer so it has always been a hobby for me. I was first bitten by the photography bug when I was about five years old. My dad would let me play with his old Kodak “Hawk Eye” camera and I was fascinated with it. Half the time it had no film in it but even when it did most of the pictures I took proudly displayed my thumb front and center.

My family is from Brooklyn New York and like most middle class families of the 1940’s and 50’s migrated further east on Long Island for a more rural lifestyle. I was born and raised in Suffolk County so I am a native Long Islander through and through (and yes I even talk funny just like all Long Islanders).

In my earlier years proper exposure, film choice, developer type and water temperature would determine the outcome of my negatives. After my negatives were processed it was off to the darkroom to choose a paper grade and work on some test prints. It took considerable time and effort and a lot of dodging and burning to produce rich black and white images. I remember dedicating entire weekends to this process. Digital has changed this process and thankfully for the better. Gone are the days of dedicating a portion of your basement to a darkroom and filling it with a bulky equipment. Goodbye to those smelly trays of chemicals and constantly checking for light leaks like a paranoid vampire. Now the same can be accomplished with Adobe Lightroom and a quality inkjet photo printer. Don’t get me wrong I have no issues with anyone who wishes to process film and prints, I give them a lot of credit. Do I miss the good old days ? Hell no, for an old timer like me who is used to doing things the old fashioned way, I welcome the change.

Black and White images always have been my preference because I feel I have more of myself invested in the photo. I have more of an emotional bond with the image when it’s complete. I also think most viewers draw stronger emotions from Black and White images.

Rather than bore you with what I think, let’s hear what you think. Any comments would be welcome.

I hope you will enjoy and follow our new photoblog. Although I am posting today due to unforeseen circumstances I normally will post on Sundays and more of my images can be seen at – The Visual Chronicle

Magical Wonderland

Black And White Photography, Elina, Photography

I was on a walk after the rain and noticed this magical wonderland of droplets.

This is my first post here, so a short introduction…

I’m Elina, an Estonian living in Finland. My journey in photography started about a year ago when I got my first Digital SLR camera and felt I was finally able to capture things the way I had always wanted to.

Taking photos has become an important part of my life and something I really enjoy. It’s fun to see what and how I manage to capture and create. But I feel my photos become “alive” and get a special meaning after they have spoken to someone else.

Bit by bit I’ve started to get an idea of black and white photography and enjoy it a lot. Sometimes colors are too much and removing them helps to see the message or mood in the photo more easily.

I’m glad to be a part of this blog and hope it will bring together people who enjoy black and white photography.

I’ll be posting here on Wednesdays but if you’d like to see more of my photos then check out my blog Capturing Little Moments.