4/3/25

Black & White photographs

 Black & White
Photographs
  A 2025 Inkjet Print Project 

Image #1

Image #2

Introduction
I began making black & white (silver gelatin) prints in 1955, when I was ten years old; and I continued working in silver gelatin print until around 2003 when I began work on my first digital / inkjet print exhibition (in 2004) entitled Triadic Memories which consists mostly of black and white images, and some with color added to black & white images.  I started photographing in color with a digital camera in 2005, but it was not until after I retired from teaching in 2007 and moved to Canandaigua, NY that I began working mostly in color with digital camera images.  (See for example my 12x12" Meadow Inkjet Print Project photographs, and my 16x20" Meadow Inkjet Print Project photographs.)

The idea for the project before you now was initiated by the (title) photograph above (Image #1, also below) which I made in late March, 2025.  I was intrigued by the strong black and white abstract-graphic nature of the image--the shadows and highlight shapes on the side of our house, and the thin-lined plastic netting that I had been rolled up and placed (years before) between our house and our back deck's railing.  (The netting was used to prevent our new young cat from being tempted to leap 12 feet to the ground below from our deck).  The original digital camera file was in color, but I reduced the color to almost completely black and white as I was preparing the file for printing.

*

One night, after making the print of what I thought would become the title image for this project (Image #1), as I was about to fall asleep . . . spontaneously I remembered an image I had made in 1982 for my Lake Series which I used in my recent inkjet print project entitled  The 1994-2000 Studies Project  (see Image #2, above & below)).  I think it was the title I had finally decided on giving the #1 image which sparked the remembrance of the #2 image.  

I tried printing an alternate version of the #2 image (see image #3 below) with lighter surrounding matte tones, but for this project I prefer the dark matte tone surrounding the the dark figure in light.

*

I thought it might be interesting to attempt to compile a body of work based on the relationship between those two initial images for the project (Images #1 & #2) because of the way they interact with each other.  So I looked through all of images I had so far made for my 2023, 2024 & 2025 Inkjet Print Project to see what other images I could include in this project--images which share similar graphic qualities, such as rather bold dark and bold light forms and spaces; and images (which could include the human figure) that border on the edge of visual abstraction and which carry a certain kind of emotional-psychological feeling-tone that I felt in the juxtaposition between Images #1 and #2.  I was willing to include images for this project that contained some mid-tones, but only in an understated way.  

*

I have written so much over the past two and a half years about many of the inkjet print images I have included in this project, so I feel little need to say much more here.  I extend a Warm Welcome to you, and I hope you visit some or all of my other 2023-24 & 25 Inkjet Print Projects.  

*

Please note: I have given each image below an Image ID # and title (most titles are descriptive, a few are more poetic or conceptual in nature); and I have added some personal comments to a couple of images.  ~  Also, due to multiple post-publication additions and editings, the image ID #'s may not always follow in the sequential order you would have expected.  I have tried to sequence the images in ways that the juxtapositions would generate unexpected and perhaps unsayable meanings. 

*

 Regarding print sizes:  all of my inkjet print images are available in the 12x12" format; many are available in the 18x18" format; and most of the symmetrical photographs are available in all sizes up to 21x21" (and longer).

Also, if you are new to my blog projects, and are viewing this project with a laptop or desktop computer, I encourage you to read the following statement about how to best view my online blog-published photographs.  If you would like additional information of this technical subject you may want to click on the link I've provided, below.  

A brief note about how to best view my online published blog images 
In brief: if you are viewing this blog project on a desktop or laptop computer, click on each image once, then once again; this will (hopefully) enlarge the image and present it in a dark tonal environment at its maximum viewing quality possible online.  Once you have entered this alternate viewing space you can then use your zoom-in & zoom-out keyboard (or menu) options to adjust the image size; and you can darken or lighten your computer's screen brightness to suit your equipment and viewing preferences.   If clicking on the image fails to take you to the alternate viewing mode, and you would like additional technical information and suggestions, I invite you to read my blog published article: More about how to Best View My Online Blog Images.  



Black & White
Photographs
________________________________________________________


Black & White Photographs: Image #1 (Inkjet print, new, March 2025)
[Abstract photo (equivalent), Shadows & netting] or . . . 
"Abstract Portrait of a constantly talking liar" 

Black & White Photographs: Image #2 (Inkjet print project 2023-2025)
 "A shadowy figure in a sea of Light surrounded by Darkness"

Black & White Photographs: Image #3 (a new inkjet print version [March 2025] of the image below
"Shadow-man in a sea of light" (with light gray matte)

Black & White Photographs: Image #4 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Man in a black suite hanging in a field of broken energy


Black & White Photographs: Image #4 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Inversed shadow-man walking over crossed lines

The word "inversed" means I changed the tones in the image to their
opposite tonalities (i.e, white to black, black to white, etc.)


Black & White Photographs: Image #6 Inkjet print project, 2023-25   
Boy, bat and ball in white light and a dark matte

When I took this photograph, in that instantaneous moment, 
everything flashed white . . .   This image comes close 
to looking like what I experienced.

Black & White Photographs: Image #5 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
(Inversed image)  Boy with bat & ball


Black & White Photographs: Image #7 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Boy with Bat & Ball (in a momentary flash of light) [w lite gray matte and a thin black border]


Black & White Photographs: Image #8 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Image #15  (Basketball hoop and automobile tire)

Black & White Photographs: Image #9 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Still life: Old Peach on a line

Black & White Photographs: Image #10 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Swimming Swan (Negative/Positive with a suspended jewel)

Black & White Photographs: Image #11 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Elephant leaving the darkness of the tent

Black & White Photographs: Image #13 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Snow & meadow plants : "Drawing" of a face

Black & White Photographs: Image #14 Inkjet print project, 2023-25    
Meadow Plants dancing in the snow after a storm.

Black & White Photographs: Image #15 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Silent Dialogue between two plants after a snow storm

Black & White Photographs: Image #16 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Symmetrical Photograph : Dark-Light / Phallus-Propeller 



Black & White Photographs: Image #17 Inkjet print project, 2023-25  
"Mask"  (Dark face behind a Light facade)  A sculpture I photographed in Italy)

Black & White Photographs: Image #18 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Face of light

Black & White Photographs: Image #19 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
White (outlined) hooded figure, line & shadow

This image, and the next 12 miniature images printed on 12x12" paper are
 digital versions of miniature 3.5" square silver gelatin prints I made for my
1994-2000 Studies project.  This image and others below were made using
paper masks while exposing the projected image onto photosensitive paper.

Reminder:  you can Click on the image once, then once again to enlarge the image.  This 
should put the blog image into an alternate viewing mode of the highest visual quality
surrounded by black space.  You can then enlarge or reduce the image further 
 by using the zoom-in & zoom-out keyboard or menu options.  

Black & White Photographs: Image #20 Inkjet print project, 2023-25   
Man's shadow, white outlined woman, and her shadow on a white wall   

Black & White Photographs: Image #21 Inkjet print project, 2023-25    
Woman in a hat, a white outlined figure & its shadow 

Black & White Photographs: Image #22 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Woman with a round earring in a round hat, w black vertical bar

Black & White Photographs: Image #23 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Two kids wrestling in the snow

Black & White Photographs: Image #24 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Headless boy, Florescent Light, Man with a book and a glaring look 

Black & White Photographs: Image #25 Inkjet print project, 2023-25   
White wall & truck shadow (w metal wheels)

Black & White Photographs: Image #26 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Tree, snow, small figures in the background

Black & White Photographs: Image #27 Inkjet print project, 2023-25  
Two dogs & two people playing on a sand dune

     
Black & White Photographs: Image #29 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Flowering Potted Plant (behind a window shade) 

         
Black & White Photographs: Image #31 (12x12") Inkjet print project, 2023-25 Early Studies    
Inversed  image: black pepper balls (on dark matte)

    
Black & White Photographs: Image #32 Inkjet print project, 2023-25    
Inversed image: Fishing pole with five eyes

Black & White Photographs: Image #33 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Symmetrical photograph (Sacred Snow Circle)

Black & White Photographs: Image #34 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
A young man and woman inside a circle of light

I have written about this image which is included in my project

Black & White Photographs: Image #30 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Gloria and luminous gray phantom tree 

Black & White Photographs: Image #35 Inkjet print project, 2023-25   
"The gray cloud."  

This image is from my Negative print series.  I titled the image after a
solo piano composition written by Franz Liszt,  Nuages Gris (Gray Clouds)

Black & White Photographs: Image #36 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
 Snow covered South Meadow, pond and woods  (see next image)

Black & White Photographs: Image #37 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Snow Covered North Meadow, pond & woods

Black & White Photographs: Image #38 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Snow-covered stones placed on the edge of a raised garden bed

Black & White Photographs: Image #39 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Symmetrical Photo (Snow and meadow plants)

Black & White Photographs: Image #41 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
 Negative-positive out-of-focus  face
Visit my bog page: Portraits

Black & White Photographs: Image #40 Inkjet print project, 2023-25     
The corner of a shadowed ivy-covered building viewed against a white sky

Black & White Photographs: Image #42 Inkjet print project, 2023-25  
Sunlit Garage with most of its door covered in shadow

If you can look close enough you will see lots of detail in the shadow
area of the garage.  The blog's white space surrounding the image 
make's the eyes of one's pupils close down which gives a 
misleading view of what's seeable in the darkness.
Visit my Garage Series project.

   
Black & White Photographs: Image #43 Inkjet print project, 2023-25  
"Skeleton Garage"

Black & White Photographs: Image #44 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Grid Garage  

Black & White Photographs: Image #46 Inkjet print project, 2023-25   
Venetian blinds cord, shadows & reflections in a store front window
See my Postludes project

   
Black & White Photographs: Image #45 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
Suspended construction frame in black space

Black & White Photographs: Image #47 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Limbless tree in a park on a very foggy day following a snow storm
Visit my Images of Eden project


Black & White Photographs: Image #48 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Snow covered Christmas Tree on its side (in black space)

Black & White Photographs: Image #49 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
Lake Photograph, 1982, made with film that had become fogged 

Black & White Photographs: Image #50 Inkjet print project, 2023-25
 Shadow figure standing in a dark, windswept landscape

Please visit my Windswept Landscapes & Memorials project

Black & White Photographs: Image #51 Inkjet print project, 2023-25  
Night Snapshot of Gloria standing in the lights of our car

Black & White Photographs: Image #52 Inkjet print project, 2023-25 
 Symmetrical Photograph  (Leaf shadows on tree trunk)


*

Afterword
Black & White
Photography

                                                    We live in a dualistic world:          
_________________________________________

Above & Below
  Black & White 
Rich & Poor
           Democracy & Authoritarianism
  Unity & Chaos 
  
 . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .
 (A Work in Progress)


*


This blog project was announced on
my blog's Welcome Page 
April 3, 2025


Related Blog Project Links

Published December 2023, 2024 & 2025;  this is a revised and updated blog project page dedicated to all of my recent Inkjet Print Projects including:




This link contains all of the 12x12" Books and 12x2" Thematic Projects such as:

                Infinity a 12x12" inkjet print thematic project




Please visit the Welcome Page to my blog The Departing Landscape.  It includes the complete hyperlinked listing of my online photography projects dating from the most recent to those dating back to the 1960's.  You will also find on the Welcome Page my resume, contact information . . . and much more.






---the next added image should be #53---





.