Im curious about the future of black and white images in photojournalism. What happens to the black and white shooter in todays digital journalism of film-less technology? Will there be no new photojournalists like Sebastico Salgado, Eugene Richards, etc., that prefer this medium? Will color images become the standard, because of the technology, while black and white is left to the discretion of the layout editor? Is there still place for black and white film? Or, is B&W dead?

-- Steve Renaud (shrenaud@minet.ca), December 03, 1998

Answers

Black and white will never die. There's a quality to b&w that nothing will be able to replace. I intend to shoot pictures, as well as video, for the rest of my life. But no matter what the big media machines do, they can't replace the impact or the historic value of b&w photography.

-- David Snider (rave@his.com), December 04, 1998.

Black and White Images as large exhibition prints also have the image impact of fine art. Recently, I was surprised to sell many of my 1960's Charlotte Observer (NC) photojournalistic B&W images to patrons of art. B&W Journalistic images sell well framed if the subject induces nostalgia..

-- Philip H. Morgan (pmvideo@msn.com), December 22, 1998.

Black and white photography in many ways is stronger and more respected than it has been in the past twenty years, it may be that we see less of the medium, or that we tend to think of it used only for very serious work. Some of our strongest response from readers has been for projects shot in black and white. It's a very valuable tool for a photojournalist, but few are trained in producing quality images. My hope is that we don't loose sight of the skills it takes to produce fine black and white images.

-- Gary B. Miller (Gbmlenscap@aol.com), January 14, 1999.

The Black & White always be impact image in the press. El impacto que ocasiona al observador una imagen en B/N en las paginas de una revista, periodico o exposicion pictografica, muchas veces supera a la imagen a color. The Black & White not is only technology past, is visual aesthetic in the diferents grays tone.

-- Samuel Nieva (snieva@pacbell.net), August 25, 1999.

I shoot as much B&W as I FEEL I want to. It's horses for courses and is an emotive issue. The general feedback I have from editors, whether they are presented with colour or B&W, is that photographers are not spending enough time shooting a subject, the work is not solid enough, the picture selection not strong enough. They are prepared to devote space to material if they get good enough material. I think B&W will be around for a long time. There is no market resistance to the medium, only the content and quality.

-- Roger Garwood (garwood@nettrek.com.au), November 06, 1999.