I see black and white. I see shapes. I see textures. I see grey tones. I see shades and light. I don’t see colours.
I really like the dramatic effects of black and white in photographs. And I find it much easier to show a monochrome world in my pictures. I guess this has to do with my visual perception. But it might also have to do with a certain inability to find the right expression in color pictures. I find the processing of color on my computer rather difficult and I usually don’t find what I want to say by using a color palette. Black and white comes more naturally to me.
But there is one exception. When I get myself immersed into the Mediterranean summer mood I cannot express this without using color. The hot, dry air, the charred brown landscapes, the ocker mood of the Mediterranean summer I can only express by using color. This happened to me in Malta the previous year and it now happened again when I took pictures in searing hot Rome.
The city was deserted by its inhabitants. And it was visited by only very few tourists, both due to the Corona pandemic and the fact that visiting a Mediterranean city during the hottest summer can be a harrowing task. So I had the rare opportunity of taking pictures in a city that is nearly devoid of any human beings. Even on Piazza Navona you could easily find space to walk around and the many tourist cafes and restaurants were desperately looking for patrons.
Window shopping in hot summer during Corona times
When I started processing the Rome pictures I realised that I can’t express the mood of this hot summer city in monochrome pictures only. There were certain images that told the story in monochrome. But when it was about the hot and arid Mediterranean feel, it needed to be shown in colours.
So for a change I used color. And I found help by using the Color Efex App by Nik Collection. It somehow gave me the tools that I needed to add color to the summer mood.
And yes, the pictures are no real representation of a city, they are my very personal summer feelings expressed in fleeting ICM pictures.
So take a look and let me know what you think about the use of color in the Mediterranean summer.