Taking on the Black and White Photography Challenge

Most of last year, I was in a photographic slump. I wanted to learn more about taking photos and to become a better photographer. I just wasn’t overly inspired by the photo opportunities around me. Honestly, it felt like there were very few good photo ops. Life on an island isn’t fast paced and nothing much changes. I am constantly challenged to find new perspectives on subjects I have shot repetitively for most of the nine years I have lived here. Somewhere along the way last year, I pretty much gave up.

So what changed? For starters, I was challenged on social media to share a black and white photo a day. I know that sounds cheesy. However, I decided to comply. I was quite surprised by how much I liked the results.

This was the first photo I took for the challenge. It was snapped with my Samsung Galaxy Tablet, then converted to back and white. I was sitting in the car, waiting to pick my husband up from work. I liked the way the palm trees cut a line down the center of my view.

Once I took and shared my five photos, I thought I was done. Then I saw my friend, Doris had picked up on another black and white photography challenge. I liked all of her photos, but realized the ones of the sky peeking through tree branches really caught my eye. I could easily replicate something like that in my own neighborhood. So I set out, camera in hand.

These trees were the perfect choice. I love that they still have a few seed pods among their foliage.

I am shooting in color with an older canon point and shoot. I have to keep in mind which photos I want to be black and white, then convert them later. I chose to use filters from the Totally Rad Labs plug in. This method works, but honesty, I am hoping to acquire some black and white film to try out in one of my analog cameras.

This year, my goal is to try not to fall into that blah space of disinterest. I hope to keep myself going by trying out photo challenges and experimenting a bit.

If you are interested in trying the black and white photo challenge,head on over to the Podcast blog to view their latest photos.