Genius Loci*

* Taken from Latin, the word literally means the "spirit of a place" which is based on the concept that cities have a deep underlying spirit arising from climate and cultural aspects.

^I like this shot for the lady's mannish smoking gesture and sober gaze in face of the wide array of making-you-drop items sold in the night market.

Ricoh cameras are known for rendering its black-and-white shots with likable tones. For sure, in the digital era, it is worth considering the strategy of whether shooting B&W images straight out of the camera or colour images to be converted into B&W.

The reason, as I once wrote, is that "a straight digital B&W photo gives you an image with only 256 scales of grey while a colour photo can afford a much wider range of colours, hence more information, to be post-processed for the best B&W conversion result."

^What I like about this shot is that the racks of diversified shoes, boots and wellies suggest why the two shoppers are so puzzled even though the viewers can't see what the ladies are choosing. It is like an indirect speech narrated to the viewers, thus putting them in a more distant position of audience to the chanllenge of shopping which they are actually familiar with. Hence, the story-nature of the photo is enriched.

That said, it is a cogent argument that a photographer needs to see the scene in black and white on the LCD screen to sense the pulse of which exposure combo works. (But we didn't have this consideration in the film era, did we?) So the answer hedges on your individual preference and photographic style.

But there is an occasion giving the photographer some leaning towards shooting in black and white.

^A same shot in colour could be much less tasteful because a black and white image forces you to take an overall focus on the setting.

If you go on a holiday trip, you will get a fresh eye for photographs in the places you visit. It is a good idea to use black and white to capture the exotic atmosphere, the reason being that black and white images exemplify exoticism better by focusing the viewers' attention on the characters of your subjects, or the physical/ psychological status of a person and an environment.

Coupled your fresh eye with the B&W perspective, you can end up in more keepers from the any single holiday trip than you would have thought.

^Hong Kong has quite a number of atmospheric night markets opening late into the night in the old areas. The goods sold by the stalls are always fascinating even to the locals.

B&W photography is, if you ask me, not simply shedding colours from the images. The photographer has to be aware of the layers of black, white and grey and tones. It is with these special ingredients that the photos can communicate with the viewers in a way more powerful than colour images, and even relaying to them the moments of the souls of the place and the people.

That the photo also needs a good story, effective composition and exposure is a point which should not require making.

^Two tourists…and…

As the saying goes, there are two sides to every coin. If you're using a serious compact with lenses attached with a lens filter, like my GX200 with its TC-1 conversion lens, the capability afforded to you therefore to play with the light and colours is simply too tempting to resist for shooting in colour.

^…er… a local guide and a local guy.