Black and White and Wildlife

Splash on that color, those bright blues and greens and reds! Soft feathers and golden light, warm fur and rich browns, smooth exoskeletons with a mesmerizing plethora of endless iridescence all beckon to the lens. How can the wildlife photographer resist the epic array of beautiful color from the world of animals and plants, millions of species, millions of shades? Is it ever right to turn away from nature’s gift of the full visible spectrum?

I tremble at the thought of removing those greens. Faint oranges are like the most sublime of flavors, flowing in abundance through those frail autumn leaves. How can one resist?

Oh yes, there’s portrait photography. No problem with black and white. Human beings have special centers in our brains to recognize faces, after all. The human form is pure shape overflowing with emotions and moods and feelings. With portraits, black and white is an old friend, always ready for adventure. And landscape, also! What of those rocky outcroppings and sparse plants? I see textures galore already approaching a nearly monochrome palette, bringing philosophical feelings to a familiar place.

But birds and animals?

Beaver, can I remove your color? Yes, there are textures too, smooth against pointed, lines like the aligning of iron filings against a magnet. But won’t I miss those familiar browns? No, they will return another day, bounding back begging to be captured when the time is right.

The sun speaks, “yes, I’m back here.” Back where? Backlit! Pouring with its desaturated calmness against the hyperactive gallinule, leaving only those curves – up, down, sprouting out like grass and yet not grass. Form, not color, is what I see. So long, my blues, but not forever.

Rufous-bellied Thrush, will you still sing your sweet rising and falling melody without your orange bursting from brown, so alert through that golden eye-ring, peering, watching, waiting? It bursts, it sings on metal, power lines, powerful, parallel, and ready for a perfect intersection. Geometry and pattern are dominant – demanding, even. In just a minute, monochrome!

Oh fly, green under crimson, a crime to whisk away? Tones say sorry, they need their day in the sun. The color fades and the shadows play, running from subtle to seismic, textured light to medium dark against the pitch black lurking in the underbrush, filled with mysteries for another day. Colors step aside, textures shine, curves of eyes above little lines.

The big conundrum is when to choose. Emphasize the texture, highlight a curve, when color doesn’t matter – then only shade is deserved. But can both be truth? There, some proof! A large white bird, slower than the shallow water in which it stands. The embodiment of action and patience, quickly striking and infinitely watching. Color for the former, monochromatic tone for the latter. I have no regret for eschewing color for this egret.

Birds bursting with bright reds, plants with rich greens all around. Color is tempting and alluring, for wildlife especially. But in just the right conditions, and the right kind of light, the grays and the whites can be perfectly right.