Do you believe in souls?

When I look at myself in the mirror, I see a person. When I look around, I see people. It’s sometimes so hard to imagine the people around me not being there and the concept of there being a soul and an afterlife is comforting. It doesn’t take away from the fact that when I see people, that’s all they are. A couple of limbs, a head, a body, snivelling, snotty, noisy creatures.

The second the colour drains away from the image though, through black and white, it’s like a lightbulb goes off: I see the world differently. The world does seem more soulful, as if there’s more mystery, a secret just waiting to be told. Details that would somehow be lost if there was colour around.

Is this why black and white photography is on its way back “In”? In a time where we are constantly bombarded with images and messages in our cars, homes, schools, magazines - Buy/sell/need more sex/be skinnier/have more muscles/increase your penis size - is it that hard to believe that we all need to appreciate the small things in life and see something larger than ourselves and consumerism. An associate of mine one day spoke about her experiences living in Germany as a child; when the wall came down and advertising became prevalent in East Germany, people would buy objects because the television extoled their virtues - they weren’t used to being critical about advertising. Living our whole lives surrounded by mass produced marketing in order to induce us to part with our hard earned cash, we have become cynical and untrusting without even meaning to.

Is it that hard to believe that we need to believe in something larger than this whirlwind life and black and white photography forces us to look for that something? To look beyond the snivelling exterior and see something more? Or in the words of some intelligent ananoymous person:

“If you’re photographing in color you show the color of their clothes - if you use black and white, you will show the color of their soul.”

/end rant