#1226. #MonochromeAugust Challenge

By pascaljappy | Art & Creativity

Sep 01

Well, August is over. Time to celebrate the great black & white photographs you sent me during that month 🙂

 

I love black and white photography. Even though recent weeks have seen me trying to up my colour photography game, black and white is where my heart lies. Because it can produce such a variety of results, because it allows for such realistic departures from reality, because – untethered from neutrality and realism – we are all free to explore different avenues to render heat, cold, light, patterns, textures, …

And I think that’s very obvious in the selection of photograph displayed below. No two authors have produced similar results. In this challenge we have infrared, we have surrealist, we have AI, we have abstract, we have nature, we have urban, we have literal, we have mind-puzzling, we have photo-journalist, we have fine art, we have soft, we have hard … It’s just wonderful.

So thank you *so much* to all of you who sent in some images for this #MonochromeAugust challenge 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll now let the photos speak for themselves. Let me know how they make you feel.

 

Paul Barclay

 

Murray Chant (a.k.a Mer)

 

Michael Fleischer

The Waste Fish
Solarized Leaves
Shells & Bunny
 

Steve Mallett

 

Werner Mäder

 

Dave Massolo

 

Philippe Berend

 

Pascal Jappy

 

Stable Diffusion

This entry deserves an explanation. Stable Diffusion is another of those text-to-image AI demos that are everywhere on the web these days. I asked it to create some images that might bring a few smiles to our faces.

First is the proverbial black cat in a dark alley under a moonless sky, so dear to high-ISO fanatics 😉

Second is my homage to Steve Huff’s Giant walking into town at night.

My attempt at describing “Raising the flag on Iwo Jima” may have taken a Monty Python turn 😉 But I still find it fascinating.

This was meant to recreate Ansel Adam’s Black Sun photograph.It turned into a Jerry Uelsmann 😉

Finally, another homage, to Man Ray 🙂

George Braque may have helped Man Ray, for this one 😉
 

Ian Varkevisser

 

John Wilson

 

What do you think? Pretty amazing photographs, right? Let’s do this again next year 🙂

Next up, I will publish the results of the Overtone Challenge. If you have not yet sent in some images, and don’t remember the idea, here it is again.

You can send *pairs of photographs* to me at pascal dot jappy at gmail dot com. The images are supposed to be displayed side by side or one above the other to produce meaning or emotion that’s not present in either, in isolation. For instance, a little girl, and a sunshade, might evoke holidays at the beach. Each should be roughly 1000px long side. If you plan to send multiple pairs, please make sure to make it clear which go together 🙂 Finally, please inclide Overtone Challenge in the title of your email. Cheers!

 

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  • Dear Pascal Amazing the different results. You write that the pictures are a selection. What criteria did you use to select the pictures?

  • PaulB says:

    Congratulations everyone! This is a stellar set of images. I am humbled to be in your company.

  • Michael Fleischer says:

    Amazing collection and such an inspiring diversity; light, form & shape, tonality, detail and creative suggestive hints. I would like/hope to see some Monochromes from the girls too in the future..!

  • Steve Mallett says:

    Pascal, What a wonderful set of images. So much variety and differences in approach. Totally inspiring.

  • John Wilson says:

    KUDOS EVERYONE! Trying to pick a favourite is like trying to pick your favourite child … buuuttt, I must confess I’m very drawn to Ian’s multiple exposures, something I’m just in the beginning of the early stages of trying. And Philippe’s eerie and slightly sinister collection is REALLY eerie and slightly sinister. Still, I love them all. I’m always thrilled and delighted to be in your company.

  • Mer says:

    Some nice images in this bunch. Cheers to Pascal for getting it sorted. Having some sort of target to aim for is good motivation to grab the camera and go for a walk.

  • Ian Varkevisser says:

    Put 10 photographers together and you end up with 10 different collections, each unique to the authors style. Just as it should be. Someone once commented about some of my images I can see the influence of A, B and C ( all acquaintances ) in your work. My reply was we are all a composite influence of all the work we have seen in our lifetime – tempered by our own unique interpretations and skill sets are we not ? Even down to the influence of famous photographic group of Monty Python which amuses me no end.

    A joy to share and be in the esteemed company of all, thanks for the opportunity.

  • philberphoto says:

    In a stellar restaurant, the hardest part is selecting what not to eat, because everything is just so mouth-watering, and, well, there are limitations……
    This post is very much the same when trying to pick a favorite. Each one in turn feels like: “Oh, this MUST be my favorite!” until the next one…. Kudos to each and every one of you!

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