While I like B&W, I am finding that it works best for me when it is a simple scene.  The more complex the scene the better it works in color since it helps separate out the details.

The above images are straight out of the camera raw files as captured and then converted according to in-camera settings using LR.

I tried to capture the kinds of images that I remember from the older film images that were prevalent in the past.  The only difference is that I used a micro 4/3 camera with the kit 14-150mm lens to take these pictures.  To the best of my ability, I hope to minimize the need to process these kinds of images on my computer other than for cropping and resizing or making minor tweaks.

As I walkabout I will be looking for scenes to utilize this approach for some of my images published on my blog.  As I get more experienced finding such things to photograph, I hope to utilize other micro 4/3 lenses as well as my Pentax camera to make similar images.

I confess that I have been thinking about getting a full frame camera due to some occasional uncomfortable image quality issues with my micro 4/3 system.  While trying to pin down what it was that I was a little uncomfortable about, I started thinking that it might be that the images were too clinical, too digital, and that could be due to the way I have been processing them.  The above “look” is more pleasing to me as I realize I like the quiet softer look.  I don’t like the harsh colors that scream at me.

I took this image of the clouds at 12:09 on 24 April 2024 after it hailed in parts of Hanover, PA.  We only had a few rain drops in Homewood at Plum Creek at my Villa. I was looking east when I took this picture. The circular cloud (on your left) passed north of us.

I have been thinking about how the climate has been changing.  I remember freezing at the bus stop on my way to high school when the temperatures were below -10 degrees F., getting to school, and then being sent back home later in the morning since the winds were so high that they couldn’t keep the school warm enough.  That was a long time ago.

Now I’m thinking about the higher temperatures that we will probably be having this summer, and how I won’t want to be out walking in the middle of the day.  The probabilities are going up that this might be the hottest summer we have had.

I’m still working on how I will want to portray the hot summer photos I might make.  I used a few recent images made with different cameras and lenses of different subjects in different lighting above as I experimented.  The last one is of last night’s moon peering through the trees.

The above style was instigated by a series of Sally Mann’s old south landscape pictures that I had been looking at.

I’m still struggling to come up with suitable subjects to photograph in B&W.  I think that many flowers work very well in monochrome, but every time I do that I get admonished to not photograph “my flowers” in B&W; so I don’t.  I photograph them in color and convert them to B&W later.

My biggest issue isn’t whether to show my pictures in color or monochrome.  The real problem is what to photograph.  I’m really not a birder, so I’m not interested in just photographing birds, nor am I interested in just photographing flowers.  So what do I photograph?

I haven’t been showing as many pictures from my recent walks, since I have been busy with other things. The above are a few that I made a few days ago. 

In the center picture I had been capturing the spring colors with a long lens when the red-winged blackbird flew in front of me and I instinctively started following him with the camera.  I captured it in flight as I panned the camera.

Thanks to all of the folks who turned out last night to see my slide show of some of the birds I had photographed on the Homewood at Plum Creek campus. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we had a full house.