The Timeless Allure of Black-and-White Photography

There’s something deeply evocative about black-and-white photography. It’s a medium that transcends trends and time, stripping away the noise and leaving behind only the essence. For me, black-and-white is more than a stylistic choice—it’s a way to connect with emotions, both mine and the viewer’s, on a level that color often doesn’t reach.

My journey with black-and-white photography is shaped by both digital and analog tools, a split that reflects the balance between modern convenience and traditional craftsmanship. I shoot about 60% of my work digitally, using it for its flexibility, speed, and the ability to adapt to different scenarios. The other 40% of my photography is devoted to analog film—a medium that demands patience, intentionality, and a willingness to embrace imperfections. Each format has its own language, its own rhythm, and its own way of telling stories.

When working with digital cameras, I prefer to approach black-and-white as a commitment rather than an afterthought. About 80% of my digital images are captured directly in black-and-white in-camera. There’s something almost meditative about seeing the world reduced to shades of gray, forcing me to focus entirely on light, shadow, texture, and composition. By removing color, I can truly immerse myself in the emotional core of the scene.

Of course, some moments reveal their true essence only after the fact. That’s where post-processing comes in. Around 20% of my digital work begins in color but finds its soul in black-and-white during editing. This process often feels like uncovering a hidden layer of meaning—like discovering a melody buried within a song.

My tools of choice play a significant role in how I approach black-and-white photography. Leica cameras and lenses are my trusted companions, their simplicity and precision aligning perfectly with my creative vision. There’s a certain honesty in their design, a focus on the essentials that mirrors the stripped-down nature of black-and-white photography. When versatility or specific technical needs arise, I also turn to Sony gear, which provides its own set of strengths. Regardless of the tools I use, my goal remains constant: to distill the moment into its purest form.

But why black-and-white? What draws me to this timeless approach? The answer lies in its simplicity. In a world saturated with colors that often overwhelm, black-and-white offers clarity. It removes distractions, allowing the viewer to focus entirely on the subject, the story, the emotion. A vibrant sunset in color might dazzle the eyes, but in black-and-white, it becomes a study in light and shadow, a meditation on transition and impermanence.

Black-and-white photography also has a unique ability to evoke emotion. By removing color, it creates a certain ambiguity, leaving room for interpretation. This absence isn’t a limitation; it’s an invitation. It invites the viewer to connect with the photograph on a deeper level, to find their own meaning within the frame.

For me, this is where the magic happens. Black-and-white photography is a way to speak directly to the heart. It’s about distilling the chaos of life into something simple and honest, something universal. Whether through the grainy texture of film or the crisp precision of a digital sensor, black-and-white has the power to connect us to those timeless moments of joy, sorrow, and everything in between.

The beauty of black-and-white lies in its ability to strip away the unnecessary, leaving behind the raw emotion of a scene. It’s not about what you see—it’s about what you feel. Whether it’s the lines on a weathered face, the interplay of light and shadow on a cobblestone street, or the quiet intensity of a fleeting moment, black-and-white photography turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.

If you’ve never tried it, I encourage you to take a leap. See the world without the distraction of color. Let the interplay of light, shadow, and texture guide you. You might find, as I have, that black-and-white is not just a way to capture the world but a way to connect with it—and with yourself—on a profoundly emotional level.

Ljubljana in Monochrome Exhibition

Ljubljana in Monochrome Exhibition. opening in Krizevniska, Ljubljana

December 23rd at 6pm

My Photozine is for sale here https://www.msecchi.com/photo-zines/ljubljana-in-monochrome

How To Create Moody Monochrome Landscapes

Moody monochrome landscape photography is an art. With just a change in how you see the landscape, through your eyes and through the camera lens, you could get some great black and white photos of the outdoors. This article will give you tips on how to capture those magical moments for making the best out of all kinds of outdoor photography. We will look at techniques, equipment, and other important factors for creating timeless masterpieces in monochrome.

Monochrome photography is one of the more challenging types of photography to master. Even with the right gear, it can be difficult to get the proper depth of field that helps create a moody and compelling image. In this blog post, I'll share my tips and tricks for shooting in monochrome, so you can learn how to create your own moody landscapes in no time.

Monochrome photography can be a great niche for your e-commerce photography business. It's not very common to see monochrome product photography, and people often have a hard time imagining what it looks like. But monochrome is a versatile and interesting style that lends itself to a variety of photographic applications.

The most striking thing about monochrome images is their simplicity. There's no color to distract you from the subject. Whether it's a person or an object, all you see is black and white, which makes it easy to imagine the subject as it really is — something quite different from the way you perceive it in colour.

Monochrome pictures tend to be gloomy and serious, but they can also be quite cheerful. In fact, one of the benefits of shooting in monochrome is that you don't have to choose between warm tones and cool tones, because there are no warm tones at all. Any colour tone in the scene will look good with black and white, so you don't have to worry about "matching" one tone with another.

Black and White is an effective strategy to create your own style. When shooting in monochrome, the composition is the most important aspect of a photo. It's not about whether you use colour or not, it's about how you see the world as a photographer and how you capture that vision with your camera.

Tone and mood are very important when shooting in black and white because it changes the way people perceive a scene. For example, if your goal is to create a dark and moody atmosphere, then different elements need to be emphasized within your frame.

Below are some tips to achieve this particular look:

Forecasts that include the proportion of cloud and rain, the wind speed and direction, and the temperature become crucial. A forecast indicating a 50% chance of rain and a wind speed of 15 to 20 miles per hour can be encouraging. Essentially, seek out sunny spells punctuated by periodic showers.

Clearing (or approaching) storm clouds against a deep blue sky with dark patchy shadows scudding across the terrain are photographers' dreams, yet such dramatic settings come at a cost. By definition of desiring storm clouds, the likelihood is that you may become wet, chilled, hit by hailstones, or perhaps snowed on, but trust me on this one, it will be worth it.

Days with fog, low clouds, rain or snow could be perfect for Black and White photography

The more contrast on an image, the darker it looks. If you have a lot of light areas in your photo, then it will tend to look brighter than if there aren't any bright spots in the image at all. Shadows can add a lot of contrast to an image, so if there aren't any shadows present in your scene, try adding them with artificial light sources or reflectors.

Because brightness values are inverted when converting from colour to black and white, you can use your camera's exposure compensation function (often found under the "manual" mode setting) to make scenes brighter or darker in post-processing.

Creating moody images is about creating drama, and you can do this with filters such as gradients. When you're shooting in monochrome, you can use these filters to darken a scene, by introducing more shadow. You can also use them to brighten a scene if you want more light contrast. One of the most popular monochrome filters is a three-stop graduated neutral density (GND) filter: these come in a circular shape and darken skies evenly. A six-stop GND filter is also available, which allows you to darken skies even more. Another popular filter for landscapes is an 81B warm-up filter; this adds warmth to the sky, which can be useful when shooting in overcast conditions or at twilight.

Possibly the best-known software for creating black & white images is the superb Nik Silver Efex Pro. It is a very creative and powerful program with many presets but it too has its limitations. It can be a very aggressive piece of software so you need to check your images carefully for any deficiencies and imperfections that it may create.

Taking a B&W photo means choosing which colours are important enough to preserve and which ones to discard. This isn't hard if you're taking a picture of something like a red barn with a blue sky behind it. The blue sky is irrelevant and the red barn becomes the subject of the photo. But take a landscape photo where every detail is equally important — for example, an image shot in soft light with a lot of subtle colours — and you'll have a lot more decisions to make about what stays and what goes.

Black and white photos appear timeless because they work with the viewer’s imagination. You see the value of a black and white photo very quickly and easily, while color often distracts us. The fact that no one has created the same image before you will free you up to create your own vision.

János in Szentgyörgyvölgy

Janos was born and raised in Budapest, where he spent his adolescent years. He showed artistic ability when he was a toddler. He had a solid desire to sketch, but the years of the Soviet rule of Hungary were difficult, and he was unable to pursue his dream of attending art school.

He had a graphic show when he was 18 years old. At the same time, he began to work as a sculptor, and by the age of 30, he had shown his work and received official acknowledgement for his efforts. He is a professional sculptor since 1985.

He lived in Zalaergseg, but he relocated his workshop to Szentgyörgyvölgy because he needed a place in the countryside to work freely due to the noise and dust created by working with marble.

He loves Lake Balaton, where he also lives. He once said, "is alpha and omega for me. I live side by side because I admire it all the time, and it calls me back in all seasons. "

Janos is well renowned and appreciated. His work can be admired in many public places around Hungary and Slovenia.

He orders the marble from the Carrara caverns in Italy, and the largest he ever made was out of a piece of marble that measured 3mt x 2mt in size.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

János Budapesten született, nőtt fel és a serdülőkorát is itt töltötte. Még csak járni tanult de már megmutatkozott a művészet iránti tehetsége. Szeretett rajzolni de a Szovjet uralom Magyarországon igen kemény volt, így nem tudta beteljesíteni az álmát, hogy művészeti iskolába járhasson.

18 évesen már volt saját rajz kiállítása. Ugyan ekkor, elkezdett szobrászkodni és 30 éves korára bemutatta a munkáit és hivatalos elismerést kapott értük. 1985-óta hivatásos szobrász. Zalaegerszegen lakott de, átköltöztette a műhelyét Szentgyörgyvölgyre mivel szüksége volt egy helyre ahol szabadon dolgozhat a munkájával járó por és zaj miatt. Imádja Balatont, jelenleg is ott él.

Egyszer ezt mondta, „Alfa és ómega számomra. Itt élek mellette mivel folyton csak csodálom, és az év 4 évszakában visszahív.” János különösen híres és elismert szobrász. A munkáit rengeteg közhelyen meg lehet csodálni Magyarországon és Szlovéniában.

A márványát Olaszországból rendeli a Carrara barlangokból, a legnagyobb munkája egy 3m x 2m-es darabból készült.

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Janos se je rodil in odraščal v Budimpešti, kjer je preživel mladostniška leta. Umetniške sposobnosti je pokazal že v otroštvu. Imel je trdno željo, da bi risal, vendar so bila leta sovjetske vladavine na Madžarskem težka in ni mogel uresničiti svojih sanj ter obiskovati umetniško šolo.

Ko je bil star 18 let, je imel grafično razstavo. Hkrati je začel delati kot kipar in do 30. leta je razstavljal svoja dela ter prejel uradno priznanje za svoje delo. Od leta 1985 je poklicni kipar.

Živel je v Zalaergsegu, vendar je svojo delavnico preselil v Szentgyörgyvölgy, ker je potreboval kraj na podeželju, kjer bi lahko svobodno delal zaradi hrupa in prahu, ki ga je povzročal pri delu z marmorjem.

Obožuje Blatno jezero, kjer tudi živi. Nekoč je dejal: "Zame je alfa in omega. Živim ob njem, ker ga ves čas občudujem, in kliče me nazaj v vseh letnih časih. "

Janos je dobro poznan in cenjen. Njegova dela je mogoče občudovati na številnih javnih mestih na Madžarskem in v Sloveniji.

Marmor naroča iz jam Carrara v Italiji, največji, ki ga je kdaj izdelal, pa je bil iz kosa marmorja, ki je meril 3m x 2m.

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Rozsi + Ernő

Rozsi lives in a beautiful and rural area of Velemer, surrounded by nature. Since many years she is happily married, and her husband Ernő is the present Mayor of the village.

She tends to their vegetable garden regularly, and she precisely prepares the vegetables. They have many hens, who can roam freely on the street, around the house, and in the neighbouring fields during the afternoon of most days!

They both fondly recall a time when more people were living in the community. You might have come across farmers and workers even further up the village, and there were many sounds.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Rózsi Velemér egy gyönyörű és falusias részén él, a természettel körülvéve.

Sok éve boldog házasságban él, férje, Ernő, pedig a falu jelenlegi polgármestere.

Rendszeresen gondozza a veteményeskertjüket, és precízen készíti el a zöldségeket.

Sok tyúkjuk van, amelyek szabadon kóborolhatnak az utcán, a ház körül és a szomszédos földeken a legtöbb nap délutánján!

 Mindketten szívesen emlékeznek vissza arra az időre, amikor még többen éltek a településen.

Találkozhattak a falutól feljebb is földművesekkel és munkásokkal, és sok hang is volt.

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Rozsi živi v čudovitem podeželskem kraju Velemer, obkroženem z naravo. Že vrsto let je srečno poročena, njen mož Ernő pa je sedanji župan vasi.

Redno skrbi za njihov zelenjavni vrt in skrbno pripravlja zelenjavo.

Imajo veliko kokoši, ki se večino dni lahko prosto sprehajajo po ulici, okoli hiše in na sosednjih poljih v popoldanskih urah!

Oba se z veseljem spominjata časov, ko je v skupnosti živelo več ljudi. Morda je obiskovalec na kmete in delavce lahko naletel še dlje v vasi, veliko pa je bilo tudi zvokov.

Feri and his vegetable garden

Feri was born and raised in Velemer, where he now lives alone.

In the beginning, Feri and his parents worked together to construct the original house.

The vegetable garden is essential to him, and it not only looks beautiful, but it also produces a large number of veggies, far too much for Feri to consume, but it serves as a reminder of his late mother. She used to take great pleasure in taking care of it. So it is for him a solid and lovely connection with her.

He is reviving the old-fashioned practices that his mother used. For example, to irrigate the field, he needs more than 40 buckets of water, which he then transfers to smaller ones for water not to harm the plant and its roots!

In the olden days, every single household in Velemer, as well as in rural Hungary, used to have a vegetable garden. It was essential to provide food for the family, but it was also a matter of pride to grow the best, richest, and tastiest produce. Some of Feri’s plants, particularly those of the spice Paprika, have been passed around for decades or more!

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Feri Velemérben született és nőtt fel, ahol ma egyedül él.

Kezdetben Feri és szülei együtt dolgoztak az eredeti ház építésén.

Nagyon fontos számára a veteményeskert, amely nemcsak gyönyörűen fest, de rengeteg zöldség is terem ott, túl sok is ahhoz, hogy Feri maga elfogyassza mindet, de ez a néhai édesanyjára is emlékezteti, aki nagy örömmel gondozta a kertet. Számára ez egy erős és kedves kapcsolat vele.

Feleleveníti azokat a régimódi praktikákat, amelyeket az édesanyja alkalmazott. Például a szántóföld öntözéséhez több mint 40 vödör vízre van szüksége, amit aztán kisebb vödrökbe tölt át, hogy a víz ne tegyen kárt a növényben és a gyökereiben!

Régen Velemérben és a vidéki Magyarországon is minden egyes háztartásban volt zöldségeskert, mivel nagyon fontos volt a család élelmezése, de egyben büszkeség kérdése is volt, hogy a legjobb, leggazdagabb és legízletesebb növényeket termésszék. Feri egyes növényei, különösen a fűszerpaprika évtizedekig vagy még tovább is öröklődtek!

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Feri se je rodil in odraščal v Velemerju, kjer sedaj živi sam.

Feri in njegovi starši so skupaj gradili hišo.

Zelenjavni vrt je zanj zelo pomemben. Ne le, da lepo izgleda, ampak daje tudi veliko zelenjave, veliko več kot jo Feri lahko porabi. Gre za spomin na njegovo pokojno mamo, ki je včasih zelo uživala pri tem. Zanj predstavlja močno in ljubečo povezavo z njo.

Oživlja staromodne prakse, ki jih je uporabljala njegova mama. Na primer, za namakanje polja porabi več kot 40 veder vode, ki jih nato pretoči v manjša vedra, da voda ne poškoduje rastline in njenih korenin!

V starih časih je imelo vsako gospodinjstvo v Velemerju, ter na splošno na podeželju na Madžarskem, zelenjavni vrt. Zelo pomembno je bilo zagotoviti hrano za družino, prav tako pa so bili ponosni, da imajo najboljši, najbogatejši, in najbolj okusen pridelek. Nekatere Ferijeve rastline, zlasti začimbne paprike, se prenašajo naokoli že desetletja ali celo dlje!

Check Örsegi page here

Őrségi

With the assistance of a fantastic friend, I embarked on a new photographic endeavour.

While the project will be mainly photographic in style, featuring portraits in black and white and primarily taken using Leica cameras, it will also include video. We will also be collecting stories, anecdotes, memories, ideas, views, experiences, and recipes from locals in our neighbourhood over the next few months, which we will post on this website.

Specifically, we will focus on an "extended" Orseg area that may include the Slovenian Raab-Goricko. We will not necessarily be looking for people born in Orseg but may have relocated here; whether it has been 30 years or 2 months, it does not matter.

We will be looking for interesting folks that are either creating something unique or have a compelling tale to tell.

HU

Belekezdtem egy új fotós projektbe egy fantasztikus barátommal.

Leginkább fotós elemei lesznek fekete-fehér portrékkal, amelyeket elsősorban Leica kamerákkal készítünk, de lesznek benne videók is. Emellett történeteket, anekdotákat, emlékeket, ötleteket, látványokat, tapasztalatokat és recepteket is gyűjteni fogunk a helybéliektől az elkövetkező néhány hónapban, amelyeket megosztunk ezen a weboldalon.

Konkrétan szólva Őrség „kiterjesztett” területére fogunk összpontosítani, amely magában foglalhatja a szlovén Raab-Goričko régiót is. Nem feltétlenül csak olyan embereket fogunk keresni, akik Őrségben születtek, hanem akik át lettek ide telepítve, nem számít, hogy 30 éve vagy 2 hónapja.

Érdekes embereket fogunk keresni és felfedezni, akik vagy valami egyedit alkotnak, vagy pedig van egy lebilincselő történetük.

SLO

S pomočjo fantastičnega prijatelja sem se lotil novega fotografskega projekta.

Čeprav bo projekt v glavnem fotografski s črno-belimi portreti, ki bodo posneti predvsem s fotoaparati Leica, bo zajel tudi video vsebine. Prav tako bomo v naslednjih nekaj mesecih zbirali zgodbe, anekdote, spomine, ideje, razglede, izkušnje in recepte od domačinov v naši soseščini, ki jih bomo objavili na tej spletni strani.

Natančneje se bomo osredotočili na »razširjeno« območje Őrséga, ki bi lahko vključevalo tudi slovensko pokrajino Raab-Goričko. Ne bomo iskali le ljudi, ki so bili rojeni v Őrségu, ampak tudi tiste, ki so bili preseljeni oziroma premeščeni na to območje, ne glede na to, ali je minilo 30 let ali 2 meseca.

Iskali bomo zanimive ljudi, ki bodisi ustvarjajo nekaj edinstvenega ali imajo osupljivo zgodbo.