Week 01 - Walled City

Walled City

These will generally be very brief thoughts on what features a photo contains that make it a good candidate for processing in black and white.

The potential elements that make a compelling black and white image are lines, shapes, texture, and tone.

In Elvas, Portugal, the old walled city provides a rectangular shape and well-defined texture. We can feel the granite. The wall's lines add depth, while the diagonal composition adds energy.

The whispy clouds offer a contrasting tone against the consistent style of the walls.

The living trees on top of the wall create contrast and juxtaposition against the static wall. Had the photo been in color, they would dominate and be a distraction. However, their skeletal yet soft shapes render them an escape from the unyielding wall

This is a learning process for me, which is why constrained projects can help us to escape our tried and true bag of tricks.

Next week, a winter trip back to New York's Hudson Valley may provide a perfect subject for this ongoing project - snow!

f4 1/160 sec ISO 200 Jan 2, 2022