By removing color altogether, the black & white photographer is able to reduce the image to its very essence.
Proper lighting is essential when working with black & white images because all you have are light and the shades between grey and darkness. Because of its reductionist nature, the art of black & white photography lies in working with lines, forms, structures and composition.
What you photograph doesn’t matter as much as how you approach it.
While some say it is easier to photograph using only black & white images, I would argue that it is indeed more difficult because you are forced to pare down the subject of the photograph to its very essence. There is no room for error. Capturing a subject on black & white film can be simultaneously raw and awakening.
In my work, I consider the pictures that I “gather“ during my travels to be a traveller’s visual diary. Through the black & white medium, I document my own personal view of the countries and the various people I meet. My goal is to create sensitive, intimate portraits by gently and gradually approaching the people I photograph. Photography for me, whether black & white or not, is an opportunity to invite the observer to interact with the subjects he sees.
Photography is about both capturing life in pictures and breathing life into them through my own interpretation. Black & white photography allows me to do that best.
Photography is about illustrating the human experience – in a very humane way, the way people truly are. Without guile. Without aloofness. But always with respect. Black & white is no-nonsense. Besides, I’ve been colorblind since birth, making it an ideal medium for me!
For those of you just starting out in the world of photography, you need not travel to the farthest ends of the Earth to find interesting images. They can be found anywhere you are. Just open your eyes, focus your lens and start at your back door. In the beginning of my career, I was always searching for pictures.
Now, more than ever, they have started finding me.
About Klaus Polkowski - Photographer
Klaus Polkowski has been a photographer for over thirty years. His career began in Calcutta, India, when UK photographer Gary Woods approached him to work on a book project about Mother Teresa with whom Klaus was working as a nurse at the time. He has been taking pictures professionally ever since.
Visit his site: http://www.klaus-polkowski.com.
