A good black and white photo can really take my breath away. I’m inspired by photographs like these and these to work on refining my post-processing skills. The spark started when I took a B&W film photography class in college. Working in the darkroom hadn’t really interested me before I took that class, until I understood how amazing the process was. I was still somewhat afraid of contrast at the time, but by the end of the semester I started to see what life and interest a little contrast could bring.

And now, well, I don’t work in a darkroom anymore (though given the opportunity, I’d love to shoot a few rolls and get back in there with all those chemicals). These days, most photographers work digitally, AKA the “lightroom.” Luckily, I don’t have to run test strips of expensive photo paper to come up with the best exposure and contrast, but it is still hard work. I have a one simple example of why beautiful black and white photography is much more than hitting the “desaturate” or “remove color” button at the Walmart kiosk.