One Tree Road

These days many photographers shoot everything in colour and then think about converting to black and white afterwards. I think that is the wrong way to approach monochrome photography. To really see in black and white takes practice and the best approach in my opinion is to devote yourself to it for a day, a week, a month or however long it takes. Trying to shoot colour and black and white on the same day makes life too complicated!

This particular shot was taken somewhere near the Lancashire/Yorkshire border using film and a red filter. The contrast was further enhanced by printing at grade 5. Many photographers seem to think that it is essential to achieve good detail throughout the picture and use hdr techniques to achieve it. My approach with this shot, was quite different. I wanted to remove detail in order to simplify and therefore strengthen the composition.