There is more to black and white photography than simply an absence of color. Maybe I wouldn’t feel this way if the first photographs had been made in color but that didn’t happen…

One of the things that I like to do to get myself out of a rut is to shoot photographs, especially portraits, in monochrome. It doesn’t have to be all of the images that I’ll make during a session; maybe just a few.

I’m giving my Sunday Series on Outdoor Portraits the day off as I consider shifting the theme to Available Light Portraiture. Today’s post takes a look at the concept of using available light giving reasons why you should give it a try.

Studies have show that women consistently represent the majority, of mystery book purchasers. One study by The Seattle Times found that women account for 64% of all book purchases, including detective and thriller stories. A separate report from Marketing Charts indicates that female fiction readers consume mystery/thriller/crime books at a higher rate than male readers (57% vs. 39%.)

On a recent sunny morning I loaded my recently acquired Canon A-1 with a roll of expired (13 years) Fujifilm Neopan 400 Professional that some consider “one of the greatest and most distinctive black and white emulsions ever produced.” My goal was a casual photo walk in downtown Parker, Colorado to test the camera and a FD 50mm f/3.5 macro lens.