Speaker Topic: Black & White Photography

Black and White Photography is often forgotten in our digital color world of today. While not every image is a candidate for conversion to black and white, some images can be truly striking and powerful when rendered in this medium. This presentation focuses on how to produce strong black and white images, starting with learning to recognize what types of images make great black and white photographs. You will learn to recognize the conditions that will result in great images. You will also learn how to process black and white imagery with Photoshop and other software applications.

Bio: 

Photography has been a passion of Geff’s for over 40 years. Like most people, Geff started taking pictures of his vacations and of his family, with his very first camera, a Fuji XT605. 

Geff definitely caught the photography bug and his interests branched out from family vacations to nature photography, such as landscapes, birds, and flowers; travel photography with the goal of capturing the culture of his destinations; and urban landscapes… street, people, and decay. 

Since Geff started with film, he was compelled to learn every aspect of development and at one point had built his own darkroom so that he could process his images. Geff has, like many, converted to the digital format. For his nature photography, he is a purist… and uses post-processing software at a minimum. For all other subject matters, digital photography allows such a limitless freedom of expression. Each image can be manipulated in multiple ways to express a desired mood or state of mind. Although he doesn’t have his original camera, he does have a collection of antique cameras and often shoots film which he processes at home and then transfers to a digital image. 

In college, he studied and obtained a degree in graphic arts. These studies aided him in developing perspective and have definitely impacted how he composes and processes his images. His work is a true expression of how he sees the world. 

See Geff’s interview with Peggy Farren, of Understand Photography, on Why Choose Black and White Photography. Geff has also been featured in the UK’s Black + White magazine for his amazing B&W work of Icelandic horses!