The World in Black and White

Photos from the past were black and white or sepia. That is why old pictures look so old and people look so different. I wonder if children, seeing them, think to themselves, the world, people and animals used to be black and white and shades of gray? 

Young children often take things literally. When my brother was 4 or 5 his friend saw a book with a illustration of a chicken, The chicken had four feet. He told my brother, “Old fashioned chickens have four feet.” My brother laughed and teased him, and said that it wasn’t true. The boy was adamant. He was sure that it must be true because he saw it in a book.

When I was a child I might have wondered about the world of my parents being black and white.

I saw drawings from the 1800s in the Brooklyn Museum. The paper was yellowed. The drawing looked old and faded. I thought about it what it looked like when it was new on white paper. 

Renaissance paintings are very dark. As paintings age the paint cracks and gets darker. Bright colors fade. Colors change. 

We see things as they look to us now. We think in color. I believe we dream in color, but I’m not sure. 

But what would it be like to see only in black and white and grayscale? Plain? Boring? Unadorned? Simple? Stark? Grim? Bleak?  Possibly it would appear striking, shadowy, ethereal, graphic or deep.

There is a timelessness to black and white. With black and white you have tones of grey. There is texture and a softness. It forces you to use your imagination transporting you to another era.

Recently I’ve started teaching a photography class on zoom. The students, including myself use a smartphone camera and one uses a digital camera. In the old days of film cameras, we would have used black and white film. I know that many photographers still prefer a film camera and shooting in black and white. 

After watching videos on black and white shooting tips and looking at the work of photographers, Annie Leibowitz, Diane Arbus and Ansel Adams, I instructed them to set their camera settings to shoot in black and white. It’s not enough to take black and white photos. I want them to think in black and white.

Since I also teach watercolor and drawing, we did paintings and drawings in black and white as well.  It’s not enough to take black and white photos. Of course, we are deluding ourselves. The world never really was black and white. 

Perhaps there are other species that can only see in black and white, but humans see in color. Do we always dream in color? I’m not sure. I do remember seeing my mothers face in a dream and her eyes were very blue.

It is interesting to change our perception, to look at life a little differently, to escape to an earlier time or travel timeless in the universe. Things change all the time, but sometimes we get stuck in one way of thinking. It’s good to see another perspective.

*I have a limited number of prints of the Flatiron Building. If interested, please email me at linda.s.berkowitz@gmail.com.