today’s the BIG day! the day for our Black & White Photo Contest sponsored by Jennifer at Fadeless Memories. (link up your photo below!)
Jennifer creates masterpiece heirlooms when she takes your favorite photo and carves it into acrylic. you can then hang it in front of a window or other light source and have that memory captured in such a unique way. look what she was sweet enough to send me!
today i’m going to let jennifer share with you her love for black and white photos and why she thinks they can certainly add beauty to your photo collection:
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Words cannot express how excited I am to be hosting this photo contest. Ever since I started taking photographs last August, I’ve loved reading, following and entering photo contests and I’ve always envied the person who had the privilege of looking through a ton of amazing images and picking the winner. When I started talking to Andi about doing a contest I knew that I wanted to do B&W images because they have the capacity to be some of the most dynamic images out there (in my personal opinion) and they capture a moment like nothing else can.
Here are some reasons I love black and white photographs.
1. It powerfully displays the essence of an expression or situation.
Although this image is cute in color, when you convert it to black and white it really adds an extra “punch” to his expression and makes it much more effective.
2. It subtly separates the image from reality just far enough and allows you to see the beauty in the situation.
Sometimes the negative emotions that are attached to certain situations are a bit too powerful for the viewer to enjoy a photograph
in color. However, when placed it B&W those emotions are dulled down a bit and it allows the moment to be captured in a way where it’s more easily accepted and cherished.
3. It gives the image a timeless quality.
The image below was taken of a 100 year old steamboat on the Ohio River (The Belle of Louisville) this April. I believe it really
preserves the age of the vessel because unless the viewer was highly skilled it’s unlikely that they would be able to tell what decade the photograph was taken.
4. It allows you to remove distracting elements of a photo.
I saved this point for last because I try to remove distracting elements from color photographs too. However, if we only took pictures when everything was “perfect” we would miss so many beautiful moments. In this picture of my mom, her dress really clashed with my son’s shirt, and I also blew out the exposure in the background because I needed to expose for their faces. However, converting the image to B&W really hides the negative elements of the photograph and narrows in the focus to my son’s eyes and my mom’s expression.
I really can’t wait to see all your wonderful images and enjoy what you want to preserve in such a classic, dynamic manner.
Happy Shooting!
Jen
Jen Roberson is the owner of Fadeless
Memories and the manager of the Roberson household. When she’s not
helping out her sweet husband or keeping her 3 boys from
killing themselves she likes to take photos, eat ice cream and read.
She has been voted “best robot voice”, “best monster voice” and “best
diaper changer” by her family and loves it most of the time.
Stop by Jennifer’s Facebook page and Twitter and say Hello and Thanks for sponsoring our contest!
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ok, this is a tiny bit different than most photo fridays, but still easy as pie!
ALL the official rules can be found HERE.
Just link up your black and white photo below and make sure that the button is somewhere in the post so that you can be considered for the prize.
Grand Prize:
$25 dollar credit to Fadeless Memories which can be used for a free 3.5×5 carved photo or used toward a larger size
Top Three:
bragging rights and a button announcing your coolness
good luck, hope YOU win!
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.thehollierogue.com/" title="The Hollie Rogue"><img src="http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc383/dreamrdo/bwphotochallenge.jpg" alt="The Hollie Rogue" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
I love the button!!
I think this is a great idea! There is something very ethereal about B/W photography that catches my attention every time. Btw, I love all the black and whites that you’ve posted!
Thanks so much Wendy! I had fun writing it.
LOVE the hair on the little guy!
I love his hair too! He was actually born with it and the top part never fell out. I’m going to have to cut it soon because of summertime but I’m trying to delay it as long as possible. I always get pregnant shortly after the first haircut because I lose my “baby”.
I ended up with an almost black and white after adding textures. Happy Friday Andi!
Black and white can really enhance certain shots. Sometimes color is so distracting. I love this challenge!
I just posted my photo for the contest on the hollierouge facebook page since i don’t have a blog!
That is sooo cool!! I love it.