Max Stansell Photography Hey Everyone! I hope today finds you healthy and safe. This week I want to talk about black and white photography and why I like it. Way back when, when photography was shot on film, black and white photography was much more prominent than it is now.  At the beginning of photography, it was all black and white because there wasn't any color film available. But even after color film was invented, black and white was still the norm. In what I call the hay days of photography, from the 1920s to the 1960s, just about everything was on black-and-white film. I love looking at all of those old photos from my family and even in the National Archives from all of the famous people you think about when studying the art of photography, all shot in black and white. Majestic landscapes, news, sports, and portraits were all shot in black and white. Maybe I'm just nostalgic from the days gone past. But to me, things shot in black and white have that "timeless" feeling that I don't get with color photographs. There are lots of blogs and all kinds of tutorials that explain all of the techniques of shooting in black and white, but I'm more concerned about how a photograph makes you feel. I imagine that younger photographers who grew up with Goldsboro Fire House all-color all the time don't feel the same way that older photographers do about black and white. Don't get me wrong, there are some younger photographers that dabble in black and white. But most of the time it's color, vibrant color, that they go to. So when do I like to shoot black and white?

Max Stansell Photography Portraits - I love black-and-white portraits. To me, they seem to be sharper, show more detail in the face, and show more expression than color portraits. Think of all the black-and-white portraits of old movie stars or politicians that were taken in decades past. You see those photographs, and they just pop off the page. You get to the soul of the photograph without cluttering up the photo with all of that color.  I have a wall in my house where I have photos of my family members, but I made them all in black and white because I think they just look better. An old saying about portraits that I really like  is "If you take a portrait of someone in color, you're taking a photo of their clothes; when you take a portrait in black and white, you take a photo of their soul."

Landscapes - Big majestic landscapes are great in black and white! Ansel Adams, one of the most--if not the most--famous landscape photographers, shot in black and white. Even though in his later years color was available and he dabbled in it, he preferred black and white. I think that in some landscape photographs color just muddles up the photograph, makes it too busy. But if you change it to black and white, sometimes it just jumps off the page. Try to change some of your favorite landscapes from color to black and white. All of them won't work well, but some of them will be a lot better than the originals that you thought were great.

The MetroCommuters waiting for the Metro in Washington DC. Street Photography -  Nothing says black-and-white photography like street photography. Capturing scenes and cityscapes in black and white is the norm. This style of photography is where I think black and white really shines and is probably where it is the most used in today's photography. I think, again, it's the timeless look of the photograph that it shows.

As you can see, I'm a big fan of black-and-white photography. Please experiment with black-and-white photography, and I'm sure you'll become a lover of the "monochrome experience" like I am. Until next week, please stay safe and healthy and get out and shoot.

Hey Everyone! I hope today finds you healthy and safe. This week I want to talk about making an end-of-year book. This is something I started a few years ago at the suggestion of my photography club. We were making them to share at an end-of-year holiday party. But I really think that everyone should have one. So what is an end-of-year book?

An end-of-year book is a collection of all of your best shots from your year of photography. There are all kinds of books you could make, from family books to books on your pets, but this end-of-year book would be a book of all of your best work. If you're like me, I may go on a photoshoot and shoot 500 shots. Out of those, I may only have one or two that I would like to share. And out of those, maybe only one of them is noteworthy of printing in a book. But over the course of a year, you may have 40 or 50 really great photos that you should print. An end-of-year book is a great place to put them.  

Let's talk about why I think you should print a book. The first reason is that most of us, myself included, do not print enough. We don't have shoeboxes full of things we have printed like we did in the past. Instead, we now have them on a disc or drive somewhere, and nobody will see them or pass them down when we are gone. An end-of-year book is an easy thing we can do once a year to print our great work and have something tangible for people to hold, something to pass down to our grandchildren and theirs.  I recently made a book of all of my mother's photographs. She has Alzheimer's and knew her memory was going, so she sat down and labeled and sorted all of her photographs that she had. I found all of them in boxes, took them to my house and digitized a lot of them, and made a book that she could hold onto and look at the photos. I had them labeled with the names of the people from her past so she could remember now that her memory is not good. Books are a great way to do this. I should do more of them, but I'm pretty lazy like everyone else. 

This year I had a solid photo project of photographing and visiting all of the state parks in North Carolina in one calendar year.  I've got it all done now (pat on the back), but now I have to make my end-of-year book about state parks. There are 34 state parks, so the book will be at least 34 pages long and probably double that. There are all kinds of places where you can get a book made, from Shutterfly, Blurb, Snapfish, and a lot of others.  You can even get a book made at your local drugstore, like Walgreens. They usually don't cost much, and it usually depends on how many pages and the quality of the book you're making.  The bottom line is that it's much cheaper to make the book than it would be to print all of the photographs.

I know I have rambled quite a bit here, but the bottom line is that this is a great way to share your work with something that is tangible and something that you can pass down through the ages. So until next week, take some notable photos and get outside!

Hey Everyone! Hope I find you healthy and safe this week. This week I'd like to talk about winter photography and how to dress for it. Now, living in the mid-Atlantic region of the US, it doesn't get super cold like it does up north but still gets cold enough that if you're outside you need to dress for the cold. Dressing for the cold is much like dressing for a backpacking trip in the fall, the same precautions. Here are a few tips that you should consider.

Hands - Keeping your hands warm is key to photography, and our cameras in the cold are just cold hunks of metal that can suck the heat right out of your hands. Wearing gloves or mittens is the way to go. There are special photography gloves that you can get where the fingertips peel back out of the way while you are adjusting the knobs of your camera which comes in handy. I bought a pair of these special gloves a year or so ago and wish I had bought them earlier. Another thing you can do is use hand warmers. These are a must in my camera bag when it's cold outside. These are small chemical-filled bags that get warm when you shake them up. They can stay warm for hours and feel as good in your pockets as they do in your hands. They are inexpensive and great to have in your camera bag.

Head - Most of the heat in your body leaves through your head, so wearing some sort of head covering is a must in cold weather. I like to wear a stocking cap that is made out of fleece. It covers my ears and feels great. I also have one that has insulation built into it that also works great. The biggest thing is that it keeps the heat in and is comfortable and lightweight. I also like to wear a neck gator. This is a tube of cloth that is made out of fleece that you pull over your head to wear around your neck. You can also pull it up over your nose to keep it warm too. Eyes also need protection, especially when you're in the snow. The reflection can really harm your eyes, so wear sunglasses to protect your eyes.

Body - The key to keeping your body warm is to dress in layers. No cotton!! In hiking and backpacking, the term "cotton kills" is a popular saying.  Cotton may be comfortable, but it holds moisture. If you get it wet by sweating or by falling in a creek, cotton will hold all of that water, making you freeze. You want to wear layers of clothes that are made of a moisture-wicking type of material from your base layer (underwear) to your outer layer. Multiple layers will help you regulate your body temperature during the day. If you are hiking to your photo spot, you can take off some layers and put them in your camera bag. Then, as you heat up during the exercise of hiking, you won't sweat as much. When you get to your location, you can put on those extra layers you carried to keep you warm as your body cools off. Lightweight clothes are what you're looking for as you are layering, and heavy bulky clothes is what you want to stay away from. We want to be comfortable while we are on our adventure.

F eet - You must keep your feet happy when in the cold. Wear socks that are not cotton. Again, "Cotton Kills" in cold weather. Wool socks are a good option. They make wool socks that aren't itchy like the ones you're probably thinking about. In cold weather, I usually take an extra pair of shoes and socks and keep them in my vehicle in case I get my feet wet while out and about. A clean, dry pair of socks and shoes feel great after slogging around in wet conditions all day. Again, they do make feet warmers like the hand warmers that fit into your shoes to keep your feet warm.  I haven't used them much, but they could come in handy--or footy. LOL

As you can see, the key is to keep yourself dry and layer up to stay warm in cold weather. Now for extreme cold weather, you would have to have some heavy-duty outer wear to keep you dry and insulated. But for general cold weather, the above suggestions should help. So don't let the cold weather keep you from getting outside to do photography. Dress the part and then get outside!