I did not set out to become a photographer who loves black and white. It just kind of... happened.
Every time I finish editing a session, I try the black and white version. Every single time. Not because the color image is not working. Not because it is some photography rule. I just like seeing what happens when you strip an image down to its essentials. Sometimes, an image completely surprises me.
Take a photo that felt like a nice little in-between moment, pull the color out, and suddenly it becomes something else entirely. Something quieter. More emotional. More honest.
The photo that changed it for me
I took the photo at Sea Bluff Beach on a cold March day. My son was standing near the rocks looking off to the side at something. Very little-boy energy. Completely in his own world.
In color, it is sweet. He is wearing this pale gray sweater with tan pants, the rocks behind him are reddish-brown, the sky is bright, the water is blue. It is a lovely photo. A nice memory.
Then I pulled the color out.
Suddenly the rocks became dramatic. The sky felt huge and open. The sweater and the sand collapsed into the same tonal range and all the distractions disappeared. There was nothing left to focus on except him.
His expression. That little almost-smile. The way he looked so small against this enormous landscape.
It went from “cute photo of my son” to something that felt timeless. Like a real photograph. And all I had done was remove the color.
What black and white actually does
Here is the way I think about it: color is beautiful. I love color photography and I deliver color images at every single session. But color is also information. Sometimes a lot of information.
The exact shade of somebody’s shirt. The greenish cast overcast light can create. Bright flowers pulling your eye away from a person’s expression. Bright red pants that suddenly become the loudest thing in the frame.
Black and white removes the noise. What you are left with is light, shadow, texture, shape, expression, connection. Feeling.
I think that is why black and white photographs stay with people so deeply. We live our lives in color, but we remember moments differently. When you think back on something that really mattered, you are not remembering the exact color of someone’s shirt. You remember the feeling in the room. The expression on their face. The atmosphere of the moment.
Black and white photography does something similar. It skips past the surface and goes straight to the emotion underneath.
That is why I keep coming back to it.
Why I always deliver both
After every session, I deliver both color and black and white versions of my favorite images because I genuinely believe they each tell a different story.
Sometimes the color version is absolutely the one. The warmth of golden hour light. The greens of a Connecticut summer. A child’s bright dress against soft neutral tones. Color can be magic.
But sometimes you look at the black and white version and immediately know. That's the one going on the wall. That's the one somebody is still going to treasure twenty years from now.
And I never want to make that decision for my clients. I want them to experience that feeling for themselves. So they always get both.
A quick note on editing
Also, black and white editing is not just hitting “desaturate” and calling it a day.
I work the tones very intentionally, pulling luminosity out of skin, adding depth to shadows, shaping contrast carefully so the image still feels dimensional and alive instead of flat and gray. The goal is never to make something look trendy or dramatic for the sake of it.
The goal is to get out of the way and let the feeling come through.
Which, honestly, is what photography is for me in general.
Not perfection. Not performance. Just connection and memory and emotion.
That is what black and white photography does for me.
I hope it does the same for you.
