Kimona’s Black & White Challenge

Guest Blog by Kimona Wickham

I’m not sure who started the black and white photo challenge but, like anything on the internet, it is how you contribute that makes the game bigger than before. A friend of mine received the challenge, who in turn also gave me the challenge, where I as well gave it to others and, as you guessed it, it expanded soon after that. The challenge is simple enough, you get five days to show black and white photographs. Whether original or appreciative pieces, you are restricted to one photo per day.

Day 1 Subject

Day 1 Subject

For each photo you show, you must tag a new friend to continue the challenge. Since the rules are that simple, interpretation can be more than complex. I can’t tell you if you’re allowed photos only taken on the day, month or year or you’re allowed time to conceptualize your idea and simply share these photos base on the timeline. My rule of thumb, at the end of the day, is be original and use the best method that shows that.

The beginning
So I chose the latter of the two. I’m definitely a person that needs to plan ideas ahead. Though to be perfectly honest, it’s always in good practice to strategize your idea before time, even if the idea seems minuscule at first. This practice saves you time from resolving issues on your shoot day and allowing you more opportune time to experiment with the elements around you.
I knew the challenge could be anything I put my mind to and I wanted it to be meaningful, especially for the person that gave me the challenge. Most of my ideas came to fruit because someone was by me as a driving force. That too is an element that can drive my shoots, the motivation to do more than just for myself.

The concept

The main focus for my photos had been to show plants in the closest and most intimate light. To see if the curves of a plant could recreate the swells of a human body. I may have the artist’s curse and view a few my photos as not quite reaching the same concept I had in mind, but by doing all my photos in black and white I was able to show detail in all the subjects themselves. Colour photographs are immediately pleasing to the eyes, but black and whites can bring the most honest of stories.

Day 2

Day 2

Day 3

Day 3

As I snapped each photograph, I saw the importance of getting physically closer to show detail. I found that the closer I got, the more implied the curves of a leaf could be; that features such as details and angles are just as important as focus and framing. At the end of everything, I had batches of photographs of plants in my garden, with one more idea to bridge the gap between plants and body.

 

Conclusion

I hope at the end the concept takes shape in the eyes of the viewer, but if not this challenge sparks interest in others to go and shoot. Just get out and bring your vision to life.

 

Day 4

Day 4

Day 5

Day 5

Kimona Wickham is a visual communicator with a BA. in Communication Arts and Technology from the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTech). A creative with a passion for changing the way people “see”, Kimona applies the skills she earned at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) and sharpened during her time at UTech with voracity.

Follow her: @WickKim

Cascade Crab

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Assuming the position…

On Thursday I discovered something new about my community of Cascade – crabs live there. This should not be a surprise to me as this section of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains has high biodiversity and many rivers and streams abound, but the fact is I’ve never seen them – certainly not the size of the one I saw in my driveway that evening just before sunset. Although I do live in close proximity to two rivers, I didn’t think that I’d find a crab in my driveway, although my caretaker Artie told me that he has seen crabs as roadkill, and young boys in the community apparently play football with them.

Strolling down the driveway..

Strolling down the driveway..

So I am inside, working hard on my paper when I am called outside by Artie who asked, “you see anyt’ing like this before?” When I saw it, I had to admit – no, not in my yard. It was actually a very pretty orange/brown colour, but what caught my attention (apart from the size) were the very serious looking claws in the “touch me if you bad” position.

Me, I just wanted to shoot it – first with the 24-120mm which was too short, then I switched to the 70-200 f/2.8 which suited me fine. I managed to get a series of shots as it walked from the middle of the driveway, against the wall until it disappeared into the leaf litter at the end of the wall. All the while brandishing his claws. Needless to say, from now on I will NOT by pushing my hands into any leaf litter or holes in the ground around my yard.

 

About to be submerged in leaf litter

About to be submerged in leaf litter

Back in Black (& White)

When I started photography 25 years ago as an undergraduate student in the University of the West Indies, Mona (UWI) Camera Club we were immersed in the joys of traditional black & white photography. Agfapan, Tri-X and T-Max were developed, contact sheets were made and enlargements were made…..again, again and again until we were satisfied. Darkroom fever enveloped us as time passed from day to night and back into the morning in that fume-filled red-lit room.

There were more than a few times when darkroom sessions ended in pure frustration as we ended up with just not having anything worthwhile. We all imagined that we were either Ansel Adams, Richard Avedon, Sebastião Salgado or Helmut Newton as we strived for that perfect print.

With the transition to digital photography in the early 21st century it became harder to find chemicals, film and paper and I lost my traces of darkroom fever in 2003 when I became a full-time (digital) news photographer. However, it is difficult to give up your first love because you learn so much when your eyes are opened and you and experience what you never knew existed before. This is why I whenever I can, I get back to the tones, shapes, forms and details that only black & white photography can give me.  Here are some examples of some of my favourite digital black & white nature photos, all taken at Holywell Recreational Park in Jamaica’s  Blue Mountains.  [zooeffect AoIA5Srk9V1M]