'Arrangements in Black and Gray'

I am becoming more and more interested in, and enthusiastic about, black and white photography and a visit yesterday to an exhibition at Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, provided plenty of inspiration.

Entitled Arrangements in Black and Grey, it featured the work of six photographers, who use a wide variety of equipment to capture their images.

The photographer who impressed me most was Mark Voce, of Yorkshire (markvoce.com). The top four photos above are by Mark and they show the wonderful tonal qualities of monochrome. As Mark says in the exhibition notes: “Without the use of colour the photograph, in order to be successful, depends upon the use of, and the relationship between, form and texture”.

He also says that black and white photography is “one step away from reality” and “allows a greater amount of freedom and artistic interpretation to help capture the true feeling of a particular scene”.

I like this enhanced ability to convey mood and feeling, which can also be seen in the photo of Versailles by Nettie Edwards (bottom right) and even in a still life by Trevor Ashby (bottom left). Interestingly, all three photographers use different techniques - Voce a digital SLR (and sometimes large format film camera), Ashby a film camera and Edwards an iPhone plus various apps.


One set of images proved a problem for me. They were by Katie Cooke, of Edinburgh, who travelled around Morocco with a pinhole camera.

Having recently visited the Mezquita in Cordoba, and the Alhambra Granada - both in the Andalusia region of Spain - I have seen the magnificence of Moorish architecture and design first-hand. The patterned tiling is a wonder to see, but it also relies on colour, and I felt that monochrome treatment of this subject matter inevitably left the viewer with the feeling that something was missing from the shot.

I was also unsure about the work of Deborah Parkin, who photographs her own children. The images reminded me a little of Sally Mann’s work, and a couple of photos that involved masks seemed to hint at Eugene Meatyard. There was an ethereal quality to the images, which I liked, but - no offence intended to the children pictured - the content of the images was not sufficiently interesting or challenging for me.

Anthony Jones was the sixth photographer and his photo of Battersea Power Station can be seen above. Again, he exploited tone, form and texture, but maybe not as effectively as Mark Voce’s offering.

This exhibition has certainly inspired me to try emulating Voce, using long shutter speeds to the best effect.