Trying my hand at B&W Photography

With the holidays over and it now being the “dead of winter” around here I’ve decided this week to start practicing some black and white photography. There’s less color around in Winter than any other time of the year and I’ve discovered that often, things that look rather mundane photographed in color can become vivid and interesting in b&w (and of course the reverse is also true). Another thing I’ve discovered is that good b&w photography involves more than just stripping out the color and converting it to shades of gray. It involves altering other parameters, namely contrast and sharpness and requires some trial and error. I would like to get some b&w film, but haven’t found any in the local stores, so for now I’ll practice with digital. I also stumbled upon this blog post last week which inspired me with her many beautiful street photographs. Please check out her blog (“Klara’s Street“) and her inspiring photography post here!: http://klarayoon.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/my-year-in-street-photography/ Anyway, we had absolutely beautiful weather here Saturday, so I just went to town and did a shoot and then later went walking out on the trails with my wife and shot some more. Here are a few of the results of my first real stab at this: (no post-processing as usual) – (See my Flickr page for larger images of these, and more photos).
In unrelated news, I rang in the new year with my wife at home as usual this year while watching the ball drop in Times Square on TV. We almost never go anywhere on New Year’s Eve. Then we shot off some fireworks in the front yard and, because of a weird tradition that my wife has, we tossed a football back and forth a few times & went to bed lol! I had already done enough partyin’ the night before with a bunch of friends, most of whom like me wanted to spend a quiet New Years’ Eve with our families. Today’s humor: This video entitled:  ”The Best Fishing Bloopers Ever”  >>>>> Happy New Year 2012, everyone!