I’ve been invited to join a 5 Day Black and White Photography challenge. Though I haven’t joined a photo challenge in months, preferring to define my own path, the challenge is timely. A recent trip to the desert in Arizona inspired several black and white treatments of shots I took there, and I’ve been watching as the new Monochromia blog, a group black and white effort, develops.
Many good photographers have joined this 5 Day Black and White challenge, including another favorite of mine, Adrian of Cornwall Photographic, who is currently doing beautiful work with film.
Here are the rules for the challenge:
- For 5 days, create a post using any past or present photo in black and white. (My days aren’t likely to be consecutive but I will do five!)
- Each day, invite a new photographer to join the fun. (Wow, this thing grows fast!)
sherijkennedyriverside tagged me; I thank her and appreciate her kind comments. Today I’m tagging my favorite black and white photographer (who also does great color work), 125tel / Fotogalerie. He’s from Germany, he does excellent street photography, and I am sorry to say I don’t know his actual name. I linked rather arbitrarily to a post I think is representative of his street work. (And I understand if he’s not inclined to participate -whatever works!)
Here’ the first of my five black and white photographs:
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The photo was taken about a hundred miles southeast of Tucson along Rt. 186, in the hamlet of Dos Cabezas. Weary from a stimulating day in the Chiricahua Mountains, we were on the way to the small agricultural city of Willcox for dinner when I spotted the building. This stretch of road is called a ghost town, but people live there still. Named Dos Cabezas (two heads) for a nearby two-peaked mountain range (glimpsed above behind the building), the area has seen its share of drama in bygone days. Gold and silver were mined in the mountains and the Butterfield Overland Mail route passed through here – when it made it past the Apaches. They took paying customers but warned them that, though paying the equivalent of thousands of dollars in today’s money, they
“will be traveling through Indian country and the safety of your person cannot be vouchsafed by anyone except God.” A few hundred people lived here then, along with the usual assortment of hotels and saloons. The post office closed over 50 years ago and little remains of the other old buildings.
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I knew nothing of this history when we stopped – I just knew I liked what I saw and I wanted to photograph it. An angry dog barked from the yard to my right, which was strewn with abandoned vehicles. Across the road a sign identified a dirt lane as “S. Gold Rush Rd.” It was hard to predict how a flag-flying local resident might react to my wandering about the abandoned building taking pictures. We were hungry, too, so we didn’t stay very long. How old is the building? Was it once the general store? Decay is slow in the desert and clues are scarce – but I imagine someone around here knows the story.
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The tough life of the gold prospector brings to mind my grandfather. One of 10 children, he emigrated from Germany at the age of 15 to join two siblings in New York. Not long after arriving in the states he made his way to Bodie, California, a gold mining town (now a National Historical Landmark) in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I can’t imagine what life was like for him there – nights are so cold that no month is free of frost, and winds blow mercilessly across the exposed, treeless plateau. My grandfather didn’t stay more than a year and certainly didn’t strike it rich. He returned to New York to marry and settle down, working as a blacksmith, running a movie theater in Brooklyn until it failed, and tending bar on Chambers Street in lower Manhattan.
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Yesterday I met a thirty-something man from Ohio who wondered aloud about what he missed because he didn’t move west until five years ago. The urge to go west and reinvent yourself is still strong here in America. My own move was recent, and though I can’t say I followed in my grandfather’s footsteps, when I stopped by the side of Rt. 186 I think I glimpsed his shadow.
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bluebrightly 
Very impressive sky. It looks as if it was shot with a filter. In any case, the photograph is beautiful. I can well understand your desire to choose your own path, and not to answer these challenges, but I will be curious to see the images you have chosen for black and white. In the days of film, the choice of color or black and white was influenced to a large part by the film which was already started at the time of the photograph. Today, when we can choose whether to shoot B&W or color with every shot, I find that I am far more likely to shoot landscape in color.
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Oh yes, with a filter for sure – very glare-y out there! And then the processing darkened it more. A bit unreal but maybe it fits. I shoot everything in color, digitally, but when I get back and go through the photos, I try to think about whether certain images will lend themselves to black and white. Or sometimes they jump out and ask for it! Good to hear from you – and I will visit soon – I always enjoy your posts so much, Shimon.
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This is a beautiful photograph Lynn and what an interesting story! Thoroughly enjoyed your first post in the challenge and am very much looking forward to the rest of your images! 🙂
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And I’m looking forward to yours, for sure! Thanks!
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Beautiful and somewhat haunting. As much as I love the photograph, I was captivated by your well-told story even more.
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So glad to hear it – writing is lots of work for me, but I enjoy it, too.
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Great story – and good luck with your challenge!
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I’m glad you enjoyed it – thanks for letting me know – like I said above, I don’t typically write much because I figure people don’t have time, so I’m glad you did.
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Finding time is difficult and usually, I’m sorry to say, I tend to skim long posts; yours caught my attention 🙂
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Phenomenal start…
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So nice to hear from you – thanks!!
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Gorgeous image, Lynn, and I enjoyed reading the story behind your photo, as well as some of the history of the area. 🙂
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I hesitate to write too much, always thinking people just don’t have the time, so I appreciate hearing that. Very much! 🙂
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You write so well that I don’t mind spending the time reading what you write—even if I don’t get around to it often enough.
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A beautiful b&w and an interesting story!
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Thanks Sue!
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Well, in hindsight it seems well-worth the risk of an encounter with a “flag-flying local”. This is a really nice b/w!
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🙂 And the fact that I don’t look too threatening always helps…thanks for your comment – I appreciate it!
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A strong image accompanied by a fascinating text that both provides a context and adds an extra layer of interest.
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You always have a knack for summing this up Louis! Thanks – I’m glad the story fleshed the photo out, as it were.
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A beautifully simple shot and what a fascinating set of memories to go with it.
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The photograph is appealing, and so is your story, Lynn. I like how the peak of the roof repeats the shape of several of the mountains, and I like how you spun your story into three episodes. The tonal range in the photo seems spot on. I probably should say more (I love this post), but I’ll leave the writing to you.
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