Revisiting Black and White Wildlife Photography

A pronghorn doe wanders through hilly grasslands in Yellowstone National Park, Montana.

This past month I’ve begun revisiting my black and white collection. I’ve even been trying some new concepts and ideas with some of them. It’s come as a result of seeing some work that I was familiar with, but seeing it again at this point in time struck me with more motivation and inspiration than when I had originally looked at it.

One such example was Nick Brandt. A friend had posted on his Facebook profile yesterday a link to his work, and while I was already familiar with it, I didn’t really appreciate it until I looked at some examples again yesterday. While I certainly enjoyed the work I saw, it was one specific photo that caught my attention and had me more motivated than ever to try some new things. It’s interesting how you might simply like the way someone’s work looks at one point in your life, then you’re all of a sudden reminded of it years later and for whatever reason, it resonates with you. I believe this has much to do with your own personal evolution in whatever craft or field you choose to put emphasis in. As you grow in that particular field, your overall knowledge expands on the subject, and something that appeared interesting initially may have seemed too impossible at the time for you to accomplish, so simply admired it and continued at your own pace. In sticking with it, however, you learn more. In learning more, you evolve. In evolving, you find more inspiration in the works of others because once you have a firm understanding of all the tools at your disposal, it’s only then that you can experiment with a certain process that you feel might assist or even act as a catalyst in your own work. Perhaps it’s a similar concept as to why painters begin creating more impressionistic and/or abstract work once they’ve shown themselves that they can paint any scene realistically.

After seeing Nick Brandt’s work again yesterday, I felt the urge to revisit some of my recent wildlife shots, since prior, I have rarely had any inspiration to convert my wildlife shots to black and white. Using a few different techniques that I wouldn’t normally employ, I came away with a couple of new black and white photos that I really enjoy. I feel that there’s a certain depth and focus there (more so than the obvious) that the originals didn’t quite capture. Is it something you see too, or do you prefer the originals?

A bison makes its way through snow in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

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