“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” ~ Elliott Erwitt
Torcello in the Venetian Lagoon, Venice, Italy, 1953 ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
Every day inspiration can be sparked by so many things: a Warholian piece of art; a quote by Paulo Coelho; the dramatic lines of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Today, I was inspired by monochromatic images. I love when a photograph evokes a feeling, and black+whites have a knack of doing that.
Recently I have been paying attention to other elements too; composition, depth of field, lines, expressions, and angles. Reading images in this way encourages me to notice details that I may have otherwise overlooked.
I like this new change. It’s a reminder to look at the world with new eyes. Enjoy the inspiration!
A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into. ~ Ansel Adams
Flooded Piazza San Marco with St Marks Church Venice, 1952 ~ Dimitri Kessel
Picasso Behind a Window, 1952 ~ Robert Doisneau
New York, 1955 ~ Elliott Erwitt
Antonio Gaudi's Churchy Of The Holy Family Barcelona, Spain, 1951 ~ N R Farbman
Check out how much the Sagrada Familia has progressed since then, click here (then scroll to bottom of that post)
People buying out of town newspapers in Times Square during newspaper strike, NY, 1953 ~ Ralph Morse
View of Ministry of Justice and Government Building from Senate Building, Brasília, Brazil, 1977 ~ Julius Shulman
Wedding in London, 1950's ~ Photographer Unknown
Photographers mistake the emotion they feel while taking the photo as a judgment that the photograph is good. ~ Garry Winogrand
Russian Metro, Moscow, 1941 ~ Margaret Bourke-White
Rome Railroad Station,1951 ~ Jack Birns
Moscow Street Scene ~ Carl Mydans
Seeing is not enough; you have to feel what you photograph. ~ Andre Kertesz
Kennedy at the L.A.1960 Democratic National Convention ~ Garry Winogrand
Delegates looking at Taj Mahal, 1961 ~ James Burke
Los Angeles Airport, 1978-83 ~ Garry Winogrand
Sharpness is a bourgeois concept. ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
"Swan Lake", Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
Cyclades Island of Siphnos, Greece ~ 1961
Hyères, France, 1932 ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Be yourself. I much prefer seeing something, even it is clumsy, that doesn’t look like somebody else’s work. ~ William Klein
French couple at cafe Tango du Chat in the Latin Quarter, Paris, 1949 ~ Gjon Mili
Academy Awards, 1962 ~ Allan Grant
Newspaper boy selling newspapers amidst the traffic on Olive Street in downtown area nr. 6th Street, LA,1949 ~ Loomis Dean
Palm Springs ~ Julius Shulman
A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. ~ Eudora Welty
Hermes Store, Paris, 1952 ~ N R Farbman
New York ~ Vivian Maier
Flooded Piazza San Marco with St Marks Church, Venice, 1952 ~ Dimitri Kessel
Marina Chetner 
Already traffic in ’49. Ha!
great observation! i guess so 🙂
I LOVE these photos Marina! I absolutely revel in the drama created by black and white effects – those clouds! I love these! What a great collection – well done!
Thanks Shira! They’re easy to return to time and time again, and you always notice something different. A bit of a whirlwind world tour in there too 😉
Yes! So true – you’ve covered a lot of ground with this one! Funny how something that’s always there is such a classic – some things just never fail! xo! PS – back on my laptop tonight! Woot!
even the grainy and off-center ones look good! Thanks Shira – glad you good view them on a big screen 🙂
Me too!! Hope you are having a great week! 🙂
thank you! Hope you are too 🙂
Great photography quotes too – sorry, forgot to mention those – love the Ansel Adams one! 🙂
That quote is so succinct – Adams’ one sentence is my one paragraph!
You have some very powerful photographs here.
Yes, I agree – they are so interesting and like you say, powerful. Hope you enjoyed! Thank you!
I really like the quotes that accompany these great photographs. Like them all, though the boy in NY looking out from the back of train is just perfect.
Hi mamifi – The train image is SO quintessential NY. The subway is good to produce shots like these. Happy you enjoyed these, and the quotes! Thanks 🙂
So many great pictures and inspiring statements. It’s impossible for a photographer to look at too many images. Some of these I know and some are new. Fantastic.
Hi Roger, I was struggling with keeping the image count down. It is impossible to look at too many photos and there’s never enough time for it. Glad to have shared. Thanks!
Hi Marina. What an age to live in, back then, fabulous.
Val, it looks like a great age, doesn’t it? It’s nice to be transported in present day 🙂 Thanks!
A great collection of photos and quotes. Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
My pleasure, I am glad you enjoyed. Thank you!
A M A Z I N G! I kept thinking “oh – love that one” for every, single image. Thanks, M 🙂
Ms Sydney Life, can you imagine how hard it was for me to pick for this collection? 😉 My aim was tops, 20 images, but I went over my own limit. I tried to bookmark the ends however. Glad you enjoyed! Thanks!
This is a really nice collection Marina. It really demonstrates what an impact black and white photography can have. It’s been said but, there really are some very powerful images here. Thank you for posting. 🙂
My pleasure Adrian, glad you enjoyed! Impactful and powerful – you’re absolutely right. Add to that a sense of mystery and a strange sense of nostalgia for another time, and b/w wins. 🙂 Thank you!
Another inspiring composition Marina! One of my all time favourite images is the Cartier-Bresson cyclist. Will you experiment with b&w more with your own work? Andy
Glad to have included one of your faves! I think I will experiment with b/w when I get more comfortable with technique. However, there’s always room for experimentation as that equals practice. I just might! Thanks!
Excellent choice of images ! I’m sure you will also like this : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2134408/Never-seen-photos-100-years-ago-tell-vivid-story-gritty-New-York-City.html
Thank you Kasia, for that link! WOW! There are some stellar shots in there. The Brooklyn Bridge one, and the bridge in Astoria – it reminded me of the Harbour Bridge in Australia. So amazing how photos, especially b/w, can intrigue us with their mystery. Who knew a lack of colour could do that?!
Great selection of B&W 🙂 I love black&white photography it really makes you look into a photo rather than just look at it 🙂 I love the wedding picture in London and the girls dress and the way its length shows off her pretty shoes 🙂
Yes, I agree with you Kristina! Black and whites make us either pause, or taking multiple looks. The wedding photo is really pretty and it is from your (now) hometown. This could be inspiration for you 🙂 Thanks!
all your posts leave me inspired 🙂
Aww that’s so nice! You have made my Friday 🙂
Have a great weekend Marina 🙂
That newspaper boy reminds me of those with same job in Jakarta’s street today. Very interesting collection, Marina!
It’s great to see some things don’t change, even if the car models do 🙂 I am glad you liked the collection Bama!
Another great selection of black & white photos, Marina. I love the early New York photo!
Thanks Jenny! The NYC shot is great – I wonder where it was taken. It looks like Brooklyn. Are you traveling soon?
Thank you so much for selecting and posting these…wonderful. A good photographer will produce a photograph that enables the viewer to feel what he/she has felt..
Thanks Helen! The magic lies in evoking emotion doesn’t it? What is even more intriguing is that what we get from a photo might be completely different to what the photographer felt. Such is the mystique of the photography world!
That airport picture! It’s like, “Hello, my childhood!” Wow. Really flashed back there.
**Photographers mistake the emotion they feel while taking the photo as a judgment that the photograph is good. ~ Garry Winogrand**
Lord knows that’s happened to me. Sometimes I’ve gone back years later and realized that a photo I’d put aside as not being ‘right’ — either because of the emotions I’d felt while taking it, or the emotions I’d felt while taking another that I originally deemed ‘better’ — was actually the best of the bunch. It’s wild how our emotions skew interpretation of objective input to our senses.
Loved the pics you chose. Especially loved the NY train tracks out the window pic. 🙂
That’s exactly what i love about b/w – their ability to evoke emotion. I am glad you could associate with some of your memories. I also look over some old photos and think, “Why didn’t I ever rate that picture? It’s pretty good.” Mental note: look over archives from time to time. I am glad you enjoyed the selection. Thanks!
What a wonderful online exhibit of the work of masters. Thanks – this is inspiring! How did Henri C-B do it?? He captures the essence of life.
Thanks Lois, I enjoy being the curator 🙂 Cartier-Bresson photographed light so well, I am inspired by that as well as his ability to make the everyday look timeless.
I love b/w photos. I started out doing b/w photos and developing my own prints. I later was given a printer and was able to print at home.
Karen, I hope you haven’t given up processing yourself? Would love to see some of your scans.
ENCHANTING!
They are!
Definitely inspiring!
And incredible. Simply an amazing grouping of stellar black and whites, Marina.
Drool!
I know, Karen – double drool. So much food for though when you realise the technique that goes along with these shots. Though I like what H. Cartier-Bresson says about ‘sharpness’. Glad to have provided some inspiration 🙂
sometimes I feel like “Take a picture and history will do the rest”…
but then again talents like Henri Cartier-Bresson
don’t come often….
great post…
I like that way of thinking but then I wonder why history has a way of bringing out the ‘best’? Henri Cartier-Bresson had a great way of working with light didn’t he! Thanks Barbara!
Great B&Ws! They present a different perspective and can bring out detail you may not see in a color photo.
I agree with you Fergiemoto, and I think it is a challenge to process in black and white as there’s a fine balance in filling between those grey areas. I wonder what it would be like shooting in black and white for a month… would I miss colour? Something to ponder over and maybe experiment with. Hmmm, I have something to think about. Thanks for the Friday inspiration with your comment 🙂
Thanks for a great dose of classic inspiration, Marina!
My pleasure! Thanks Tricia 🙂
it is wonderful that these old photos allow us to ‘time travel’ if only for a moment…they are very special…thank you
Absolutely, I agree with you. I also tried to find some global spots for a bit of armchair travel. I am happy you enjoyed, thanks!
Awesome collection. I hope someone identifies that London wedding photo one day–it’s amazing.
Thanks – I so enjoy pulling these collections together. I love that wedding shot – such an inspiration for any bride-to-be too. Very Audrey Hepburn!
It’s fun to read this post knowing you are on a quest. And you have indeed collected a handful of great photographs. Many of them are classics today – but still as strong images as they were back when they were shot. The quotes following this post are all full of wisdom. Thanks for putting it all together.
Thanks Otto, I am glad you enjoyed it. It is inspiring to look at compositions etc in these photographs – I always wonder what it was that made the photographer press the shutter.
there is some thing about bnw photography that gets out the best…lovely post
I think it brings out the best too. Thanks ashkitty!
A fantastic selection of photos – Cartier-Bresson is there in force. What a fantastic eye he had, and the ability to capture the moment. Lovely, tom
Hi! Thanks Tom; I share your appreciation for Henri Cartier-Bresson. His work did look effortless 🙂
I would love to use “the wedding” photograph for my writing website http://dontwritemeoff.webs.com/
Would I be able to post this photo and provide a link back to your site for copyright and credit purposes?
Please email me, or reply. Thank you 🙂
Sure!
Reblogged this on Marina Chetner and commented:
How’s this for inspiration? An oldie but a goodie. Nothing beats a great selection of black and whites!
Such talent! Great blog entry thank you so much
Bob
Terrific selection of pictures and epithets. Cartier Bresson is so extraordinary, but the Vivian Maier picture truly grabbed me. The picture entitled Wedding in London look SO unlike London. Apart from the car, the cobbled street looks wrong, as do the traffic lights in background….but the car number plate is right! Extraordinary picture. That Julius Shulman was no slouch either:)
I love the collection of vintage B & W shots. It reminds of why photography has been my passion for so many years. Thanks for sharing it.