A True Black And White Photo

It’s hard to find a proper black-and-white photo these days. I see lots of monochrome examples but few true black-and-white prints.

My technical editor (Lyn Hall) was proofing my novel when he came across the topic of black and white photography. He was fascinated by something he’d never read before.

One of my characters (a professional photographer) makes a statement (to another professional photographer): Not all black-and-white photos are actual black-and-white photos. Some are close, but most aren’t.

[online photo displays weren’t part of it].

This discussion comes from an earlier one, as Maxine Sewell calls Mitchell to solve another problem with her camera. She’s been taking ‘fuzzy-looking’ photos when she takes a particular type of shot.

She calls far too frequently for Mitchell’s liking. Her interest in him has grown since she discovered his marriage is on the rocks. Mitchell isn’t interested and finds ways to deter her advances.

After a brief discussion about using auto-focus for moving targets, Mitchell suggests she switch to manual focus to achieve the desired result. But he discovers Maxine doesn’t know how to do this. It’s a shocking revelation. How can a professional photographer not know how to focus a camera?

Maxine quickly switches the conversation. She talks about her black-and-white photography to restore her confidence in her abilities. She says her clients love her black-and-white work.

Mitchell comments that the photos she showed him in her studio once weren’t black and white. There were various tones of magentas and greens, but none were truly black and white. He recalled one image that was blue and white. He said it was because her B+W prints were printed on colour paper. This introduces a hue. It’s not apparent until a black-and-white photo is placed against it.

Maxine laughs and denies that her photo is “blue and white”.

Mitchell asks Maxine to get a packet of her latest prints and spread them apart like playing cards so each corner can be seen beside the other.

“What do you see?” He asks.

There’s an eery silence.

Clearly, Maxine is noticing the differences. In all these years, she never recognised them. And every professional photographer she’s shown her work to never said a thing — but they would’ve known.

She gets flustered, confused and angry. She uses some colourful language across the line and ends the call.

She calls him back, shouts more obscenities and then hangs up again. She had the last word again.

When I wrote Maxine Sewell into my novel, I had a real-life photographer in mind. She, too, would hang up when she didn’t hear people singing her praises. She would even call a second time to accent a point.

Another irony exists between my Maxine character and the real-world individual in question. That first call came with an ulterior motive.

Mitchell wouldn’t take the bait, which infuriated her even more. It was worse when he showed up at a party with someone else on his arm, someone she didn’t know and couldn’t control.

More in my novel SEETHINGS. – Michael

P.S. RIP Lyn Hall passed recently but kept his thirst for knowledge alive until the end.