Grey Matters

Do you know why, when it comes to photography, there is this melancholy quality of Black & White that makes just about anyone, peers at the photo, much closer and longer, than the same scene in colors.
Black & White is simple. Whether you are a genius or not, simplicity makes the brain processes information better, without the distraction of colors. Without this distraction, it is much easier to see what it is really about the photo.

Technically it is not really black & white but shades of grey between the black and white. Probably it would be more accurate to say Grey Photography. A lot like some people think that B+W stands for Black + White instead of Biermann and Weber, the german company which manufactured those filters in the 40s.

A photo is invariably, means different things to different people. Especially if the photo was taken at a time when life was simpler, easier and funnier. Say when we were kids. This photo was taken for a school yearbook when the subjects were going into puberty. Most of the boys were starting to notice that girls were actually better to look at or to be with. Beside smelling nice and fresh, unlike boys whom were either sweaty or rough. The girls then, were starting to feel they ought to wear something inside, beside their shirts and pinafores and getting used to the idea of that week when just about anything didn't make them feel better or ok. This was the time of teasing boys and laughing girls. Fast forward 28 years later, while one or two are becoming grandparents, most of them have a daughter or a son, into puberty.

Sometimes, when certain things happened in your life, it makes you want to dig up those dusty shoeboxes to find a little bit of melancholic comfort, in seeing those old dog eared photos of yesterdays.