The significance of B&W Photography?

[Venser]

In many cases, I believe, it is due to lack of skill that we fail to convey mood and atmosphere either in B&W or colour.

Even worse are those times laziness or lack of resources kicks in. Last night I was trying to shoot a B&W image in colour, but simply didn't have the resources. Turns out the store was sold out of white face paint, so I was left converting to B&W since having the side of my face in colour simply didn't work. They're getting white in later this week, so I'm going to redo this shot and fix the blemishes and errors with this version. Also need a different brush to paint the remaining hair I have left.

I guess context matters for the above. I belong to a number of websites that have thematic challenges. The challenge was to shoot in B&W, but I wanted to shoot a colour photo, but only have B&W elements within the photo so you wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

[LocalHero1953]

I've just been to see the exhibition of photos by Tony Ray Jones and Martin Parr at the Science Museum in London, but looking more at the former and the commentary by the latter. Ray Jones's photos would not have been anywhere near as successful as they are if they had been in colour (IMHO). To paraphrase Martin Parr's comments from memory, Ray Jones had the ability (which he may not have recognised) to draw you into the photograph, take you away to the peripheral action and stories, and then bring you back to the key point, all achieved by seemingly artless spaces, depths and distances between the figures. In my view, introducing colour to these images would have added a massively different dimension of distraction. I cannot recommend the exhibition highly enough to those within reach of it.