My husband Jeff and I see things differently most of the time.  While I am constantly looking at the nuances in any given situation or person, he sees them in black and white.  That description has often made me chuckle because it’s very obvious that most human beings don’t see that way.  Even folks who struggle with color-blindness still see colors; they just have problems distinguishing them.  When we say a person only sees in black and white it is not usually a compliment.  But in reality it is not really a character flaw either.  Sometimes you need a person who sees life in a clear and concise way in order to help put things in perspective. 
            Photographers aspire to see things in black and white for an entirely different reason.  Most love the joy and excitement of color, but for aesthetic reasons a photographer may choose to turn off the color and jump into a world where contrast reigns supreme and light reveals that contrast through a variety of compositional elements.  Although a photographer may wish to capture the shot in black and white, he/she faces one very obvious obstacle.  We don’t see in black and white; we see in color.  Our eyes must be trained to see when color conditions are suitable for black and white.  This can be accomplished with handy devices like a monochrome viewing filter or the monochrome live-view in your camera, but it’s really not that hard to see this with your “naked eye”.  Like all skills it just takes practice.
            The interesting thing about color is that it can be distracting.  Sometimes looking at a color shot becomes more about looking at the color than looking at the picture.  Black and white strips that distraction away and compels you to take in the entire scene.  A leaf becomes a road map; the soft pile of a blanket invites you to touch it; a street candid captures the sorrow in the longing glance of a lonely teen; all these details could have been lost in the green leaf, the pink wool or the bright orange t-shirt of their color versions.  We fall into the trap of our natural tendency to see in color and forget to see the possibilities of the alternative.  It is an ironic twist that our seeing in color can become so black and white.
            It takes determination to see in black and white in our world of color, but it can be done in the same way it takes us to understand another’s point of view.  We can’t rely on gadgets or LED screens for those issues.  Like all skills it takes practice.  In the end, the more we try it, the better we get.  If we go out looking for colorful conditions that are conducive to black and white, we will find them and our black and white photos will improve.  If we listen to others and truly try to grasp how they feel and why they think the way they do, we will “get it” and we will become more compassionate people.  Seeing is an art and in this world of color, seeing in black and white even more so.

Now available on Amazon Kindle- Seeing in Black and White: An Amateur Photographer's Thoughts on the Art of Monochrome by Ann H. LeFevre
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0798X7Y98

I saw a feed on Facebook recently, posted by a friend, which asked her followers where they were or what they were doing when they received the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated.  The question obviously dated her and those who responded, but it got me thinking about those significant events in each generation that pinpoints a certain day, a certain month, a moment when life irrevocably changed for better or worse.  This not only happens in epochs and eras, it happens in personal ways too.   Some of them are captured in a picture- your first car, blowing out birthday candles at a party, your date for the Prom, time spent with at a favorite place or with a best friend; each of these moments take hold in your life story and define who you are in a deep and enduring way.  They are benchmarks on the timeline of your life and each moment is captured forever in your memory thanks to the picture in your hand.
 
Photographers are moment stealers.  Whether on film or in a digital file with the press of a button they freeze a moment and make it theirs in a picture.  The thoughtful photographer will do this with uttermost care.  They recognize the moment they are capturing is precious even if it is something as simple as feeding a flock of greedy seagulls on a blustery winter’s day.  The “Happy Snapper” shoots haphazardly, wondering if they’ll get “anything good”.  But for those who treasure the ability to preserve for posterity a moment that was significant to someone, capturing the moment becomes a visual trophy of success.  It is something that is gained by “being at the right place, at the right time”, studying and calculating the light to get the perfect shot, or by waiting patiently to see the moment unfold.
 
 Life has a way of causing us to forget how precious moments are until someone asks the question, “Where were you when…”, or we are riffling through a pile of papers and we stumble on a long forgotten photo which causes us to pause and think about “the moment”.  Should “capturing the moment” only pertain to putting it on film or in a digital file?  I’m starting to think that every moment is special, even if I don’t have a camera in my hands.  But for the times when I do capture “that moment”, moments have become even more treasured because they are now preserved forever thanks to the connection of my finger to the shutter.