Monday, November 24, 2014

Back to Black and White








In living black and white . . . .    Remember those days when our world was a whole lot more black and white---not only visually but also logically.   

No in betweens when it came to rules:  We lived our lives in "either-or" mode and rarely even thought of the notion that we could do anything besides what was dished out to us by those in authority, including God, our parents, our teachers or our bosses.

I'm sure life was a lot simpler then. 

We also viewed the black and white lives of all our favorite actors on all our favorite television shows.  Remember Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates on "Rawhide" and Fess Parker on "Cheyenne" and Jack Webb as Joe Friday on "Dragnet"?

Yup, we had to imagine how blue or brown their eyes were and what color blue jeans---or were they blue?---Rowdy was wearing when he scooping up his dinner in that pie tin and talking to Wishbone, the cook.

Now, Jack Webb----his suit probably was black-and-white cuz we did have an apparel era where most men wore those black suits, white shirts and black ties.

It's been a long while since we lived so much of our lives watching black and white on the boob tube or abiding by black-and-white either-or rules.   

The gray areas of thought have emerged as has living color. 

And, so when a feature on Facebook involves a chain reaction "black-and-white" photo challenge, some of us oldsters are feeling right at home.  

The basic principle:  five photos over five days, taken any time, any place.  Once nominated, each photographer nominates someone else to do the same.  

Not a bad activity and definitely a fun approach to photography---that going back to the old days stuff.

My daughter Annie is in her second challenge this week, so she nominated me, and I nominated my sister Laurie who nominated our sister-in-law, Joyce.  

Yes, we can nominate people outside the family, but we have so many people IN the family who love to capture fun photos with their cameras that this second round is adding a few of us who didn't get to do it the first time.

I was thinking this morning that I might post all my blog photos in black and white until we reach Oahu in a couple of weeks.  Then, let the color flow.  

We'll see if that works out.  In the meantime, this morning's offerings include photos taken yesterday when we truly had a mostly black-and-white day with the gloom and a good dose of wet snow---Kiwi, the tree and one I call "snowboards."  

And, then there's Kiwi again.  That's my first photo posted for the Black and White challenge, and, oddly enough, it's the first photo I ever took with one of my telephoto lenses. 

And, then, for fun, the bottom two---same picture in both frames taken about five minutes ago as the sun is painting ever changing, glorious views of Schweitzer this morning. 

Seemed fun to show what color does for our lives.  So, enjoy.

And, have fun today appreciating the color-filled moments in your life. 

Happy Monday. 



No comments: