The #1 Community for black and white photography
WHERE PHOTOGRAPHERS WHO SHOOT IN BLACK AND WHITE COME TO LEARN, SHARE AND GROW
Behind The shot With Colin Cunningham
Two unrelated photo challenges and a joke about Lord Cardigan brought John in front of the camera for one of the only portraits ever made of him. Four frames at a dining table in natural light. Weeks later he was gone, and the photograph became something neither of them could have known it would be.
Do You Prefer Odd or Even Numbers?
Have you ever looked at a photo of three people and felt drawn in, then looked at a photo of two and felt like something was missing, without being able to say why? Most photographers have a quiet preference for odd or even numbers in their compositions and have never noticed it. Here's what that preference actually says about you, and how to use it on purpose.
Technical Skill Will Only Take You So Far
Most photographers spend their early years chasing technical correctness. Correct exposure. Sharp focus. Clean backgrounds. These are real skills and they matter. But they're not what makes a photograph memorable. They are the floor not the ceiling.
Behind The shot With Glen Fisher
Glen Fisher went to Assynt in the far north-west of Scotland for a photography workshop with one goal. To come away with three photographs just a level or two higher than anything he had made before. On a grey morning with no sun and clouds hanging low over the hills he stood in the cold marshland looking at a lone tree on a rocky outcrop and saw the image in his mind before he pressed the shutter.
Learning to See: Part 1
We have gotten some messages from people who are new to black and white photography and do not know where to start. Over the coming weeks we are going to follow Alex through the early stages of learning to see in monochrome. This is where it begins.
Weekly News Roundup
A solid week. Viltrox announces a 28mm pancake for L-mount, the Insta360 Luna Ultra officially launches with Leica co-engineering, 7Artisans announces a fast 135mm for Sony E and L-mount, and the World Press Photo Exhibition 2026 is still running in several cities worth knowing about.
A Photo Story: Ignitions
Andrés Gonzalez started asking questions about Portugal's wildfires in 2023 and has not stopped since. He rides hundreds of kilometers on a motorcycle into the interior of the country while fires are still burning, sometimes arriving before emergency crews. Ignitions is not a project about flames. It is a project about the exhausting human reality of living somewhere that keeps burning.
What Makes a Photograph Have Soul?
Some photographs stop you. Not because they are technically perfect or compositionally flawless or because the subject is inherently interesting. They stop you because they have something that most photographs do not. Something that is immediately felt and almost impossible to name. We are calling it soul and we want to talk about what it actually is.
Behind The shot With Neil Silk
Neil Silk's wife gave him tickets to see Joe Bonamassa at the Royal Albert Hall for Christmas 2023. No professional gear was allowed so he brought a £50 Canon compact he had picked up secondhand. Security laughed. His phone would have been worse. Back at the hotel that night scrolling through blurry unusable frames his heart began to sink. Then one image appeared on the screen.
When Minimalism Stops Working
A community member said something recently that stopped us. Sometimes minimalism is so quiet it does not say anything and loses its soul. They are right. And it is worth talking about why that happens and how to make sure your minimalism is working for the image rather than substituting for it.
Behind The shot With Phil Anker
Phil Anker always takes in Salisbury Cathedral on his photo walks because of what the light does in the cloisters at different times of day. One afternoon a man sat on a corner wall with beautiful light falling on him and Phil sat down on the low wall opposite, opened his flip screen, and waited. Tourists kept walking through the frame. The man kept his position. Then the moment arrived. Shortly after he stood up and it was gone.
Is Black and White Just a Filter?
Someone asked us recently whether black and white is sometimes treated as a filter or a mood rather than a genuine creative decision and how you know when a subject actually calls for monochrome. It is one of the best questions we have been asked in a while. Here is our honest answer.