Cee’s Black & White Challenge: A Different Angle

The magic of monochrome first captured my imagination when I was blogging back in 2014. I learned a lot from enjoying the black and white photography of other bloggers and Cee’s Photo Tips and Tricks on black and white photography were really useful too.

Occasionally I’ve tried my hand at the Black & White Challenge to see if I could craft my own black and white creations. This was quite a challenge for me, but also it was fun to learn more, especially about post-processing, which is how I create my black and white images. I’ve added one of my earlier B&W Challenge entries as my header image for this post.

Having recently returned to my blogging, I thought I might revisit black and white photos and create an entry for this week’s challenge. By chance, this week’s theme is an open theme, so that gave me a world of potential subject matter! I think of creating black and white images as ‘taking a different angle’ on photography so I’ve chosen that as the theme for my challenge entry.

Another take on the woodland mushroom

This woodland mushroom will look familiar to some recent visitors to my blog – I featured my son’s original colour photo in my Fun Foto Challenge entry last week. Thinking about ‘A Different Angle’ brought me straight to this image, as I love the low-level angle of the shot. I decided to re-process it into a black and white image. This gave me the opportunity to re-hone my post-processing skills as I thought about how to best draw out the tones and textures under the mushroom.

Standing tall above the sea

Lighthouses always make me think of the power of the sea. They are simultaneously synonymous with danger and safety. The colour version of this image also appears in a previous Fun Foto Challenge post on the theme of Perspective (unusual angles), where you can also see the steepness of the steps inside that allow visitors to climb up to the top.

Zig-zag cloudscape

In this shot, I loved the dramatic zig-zag of light that cuts through the dark clouds, with the light shafts streaming earthwards at the distant end, like a comet’s tail. Clouds fascinate me. I can watch them for ages as they constantly shape-shift, changing from sea foam to floppy-eared dogs chasing the wind. We see some wonderful cloudscapes in our valley.

Do take a look at what others have chosen for Cee’s Black and White Challenge this week.

J Peggy Taylor

Finding Patterns for Cee’s Black and White Challenge

The natural world is so rich with patterns, from tiny patterns on leaves or insects to patterns in the landscape or even skyscapes. I have chosen a few of my favourite kinds of pattern for Cee’s Black and White Challenge this week.

The header image to my post is something I love to look out for on snowy winter walks. I love the way soft snow settles on every branch and twig and creates a snow image of the tree. This hazel has many slender branches creating a classic outline to this coppiced shrub. The criss-crossing twigs coated in snow are like sugar strands decorating a giant cake.

Ferns in Spring

Ferns are fascinating in Spring. I love the way they gradually unfurl and stretch their out fronds. I can imagine them as circles of delicate ballet dancers dancing on the Springtime woodland floor, creating graceful patterns against the darker trees.

September shadows making patterns on a woodland path

Shadows are another favourite of mine. I love the way light and shade create their own shapes and patterns. The angle of the sun here in early Autumn creates longer shadows and draws exaggerated patterns of the trees upon the path as we walk through the woods.

Victorian wrought ironwork on an old railway viaduct

Sometimes we spot very striking patterns that have been built into our landscape. This wrought ironwork forms the fencing along either side of a narrow Victorian railway viaduct. I love the simple classical elegance of this pattern as it recedes into the distance. I think the Victorians were good at creating designs that were very practical yet aesthetically pleasing too.

J Peggy Taylor

Beautiful places for Cee’s Black and White Challenge

Our breathtaking view to the Pennine moors … especially after we’ve climbed the hill 😉

A beautiful place to relax – a Summer’s day by the river

“What is beautiful to you?” is the theme of Cee’s Black and White Challenge this week. There were probably so many things I could have chosen, but I decided to choose two of the landscapes that provide us with endless pleasure through the year’s seasonal cycle. The first photo is our beautiful, everyday view to the North Pennine moors, and the second is a regular rambling haunt that we love so much, down by the river. Whether we walk uphill or down – we are always certain of a beautiful view.

J Peggy Taylor

Rocks and reflections for Cee’s Black & White Challenge

Carboniferous rocks reflected in the river – the black and white version

Carboniferous rocks reflected in the river – the sepia version

These are two versions of the same image. It is interesting trying out different post-processing treatments of the same image and seeing the effects of each one.

Do take a look at other entries for Cee’s Black & White Challenge on this week’s theme of rocks.

J Peggy Taylor

Cee’s Black & White Challenge – Water

Misty day in the woods – monochrome

The water eddies as it encounters moss-covered rocks in mid-stream

This post is linked to Cee’s Black & White Challenge – Water: from a drop to an ocean.
I often take photos that include water so I’d decided to try my hand at Cee’s Black & White Challenge this week. Black and White photography is something of a new learning curve for me so it seemed amazingly fortuitous when, just yesterday, I saw Cee had published her new Tips and Tricks on Black and White photography. Thanks Cee 😀

J Peggy Taylor