While in Taos...

Storm Over Taos

July 2010
Cheryl Cato

While we were in Taos I tried to find interesting images to photograph. The one above appeals to me in black & white rather than color because it seems to show the intensity of the storm that was moving into town. It is difficult for me to print or show photos in B & W because color is so appealing to me. I like vivid colors and am not so attracted to pastels or muted color. It would be a challenge to attempt to think of my images in black & white when I am shooting rather than being taken in by color.

Many photographers in the past were able to tell wonderful stories through black & white images. They did not depend on the color palette to enhance their images. In many instances color would have gotten in the way of the mood the photographer was trying to capture or share with his/her audience. When I think about some of the more famous photographers I realize they photographed in black & white. Ansel Adams, Charles Ebbets, Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke-White, Alfred Stieglitz & Edward Weston are names that come to mind. The photographs of each of these photographers tell a particular story.

Dorothea Lange told of the plight of people during the Depression Era in the Dust Bowl. She showed migrant workers, black children in the rural south, the work of these people and the conditions in which they lived. These were powerful images for the time and they still are powerful in that they have captured a part of the history of our country.

Margaret Bourke-White was another photographer who gained recognition as an industrial photographer. Her images were of industry, bridges, and working people. Even so one of her most famous photographs is of Gandi with a skein winder (simple machine used to put yarn into skeins) in front of his seated figure.

Charles Ebbets was an adventurous photographer. Perhaps his most famous photograph is "Lunchtime Atop a Skyscraper' with the workers building the skyscraper are sitting on a beam high over Manhattan and casually having lunch & a bit of conversation. He was also well known for photographing life in the wildlife and the Seminole Indians in the Everglades.

Alfred Stieglitz was a photographer who was intent on showing the world that photography was as artistic as a medium as painting or sculpture. He is well known for photographing Manhattan. Another interesting aspect of his life is his relationship with Georgia O'Keefe. He loved her and loved to photograph her. He was especially intrigued with the shape & fluidity of her hands and did many photographs where her hands were prominent in the work.

Ansel Adams is well known for his landscape photographs. Perhaps his most famous photographs were taken in Yosemite National Park with his best known "Moon and Half Dome". He brought images of nature to the forefront in America and was a master of the various shading in black & white photography.

Edward Weston was a contemporary of Adams but his interest fell more toward shapes. Shapes in nature (such as that of a shell), shapes of the human body, and shapes of man-made objects. He also did portrait photography of famous individuals.

Eagles Nest State Park
New Mexico
July 2010
Cheryl Cato