When I began taking pictures I wanted to shoot color. Black and white didn't interest and besides, I could buy and process color slide film for much less than it cost to buy and process prints.  

With the advent of digital my delight in color pictures only intensified. I especially enjoyed the challenge of processing camera RAW files in Photoshop, trying to produce a final image that was as close to perfect as possible. Perfection is always ephemeral challenge, always a moving target and I remain my own worst critic, but I thoroughly enjoy the pursuit.

Recently I have begun to explore the unique challenges and advantages of black and white. Professional photographers point out that color sometimes gets in the way of a good picture or is distracting. Skin tones can be better rendered in black and white. If you want a vintage look, monochrome is your best bet. Black and white emphasizes structure, texture and form. 

A short while ago I joined a Facebook group that only posts black and white images. It's a great way to see the work of others and learn from their craft. These are some of the images I have posted. Many of them have appeared on my own Facebook page. Not all of them in black and white. 

An old factory on East Michigan  Ave. This is also an HDR image.

And abandoned Dodge pickup

 The next two were taken at the tall ships festival in Bay City a few years ago. The sepia treatment seems to fit the antique nature of these sailing vessels.

This reenactor portrayed an American Indian at a Rendezvous.

Vintage hood ornament at the Gilmore Auto Museum

Vintage aircraft are colorful in their own right but black and white seems to fit. A New Standard bi-plane offering rides at the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo

The nose and inboard engines of a B-17 bomber

Port side waist gunner on a B-17

The following images emphasize structure and form.

A gray morning in an autumn woods. Had to go monochrome.

Grain silo complex out Parma way

I've processed this image in both color and black and white and like both. Each treatment bring out different aspects of the photo.  Taken near Hocking Hills in Ohio

Night scene at Eaton Rapids Airstream event

Long exposure for smooth water and clouds. 

Another retired pick-up -- this one on a farm on the Camus Prairie in Idaho.

The color in the woods behind this cat actually gets in the way of the image.

Again, black and white emphasizes the form and structure of this milkweed pod.

I haven't used this blog for a spell but may fire it up again. It's mostly been about photography but expect to see some posts about other thoughts as well.

About Serving...

In her new book, Neither Complementarian nor Egalitarian, Michelle Lee-Barnewall offers a fresh approach to the debate over gender roles in the church. Instead of pitting issues of authority against equality, she offers a kingdom perspective which emphasizes inclusion and unity over equality, and service over authority.

Although she is speaking into the gender role issue, her biblical study has striking implications for church leadership. Especially noteworthy for me was her discussion of the concept of servant-leadership.

“When one begins by considering oneself to be a servant, the end result is noticeably different from when one begins by thinking of oneself as a leader. In the former, making other’s [sic] needs primary is a natural occurrence, whereas in the latter, serving is a later, secondary addition. Greenleaf [Robert Greenleaf, whom she quotes as the founder of the servant leadership movement] causes us to ask the question, Is the point to be a leader who serves or a servant who leads?”

Referring to the first four chapters of I Corinthians in which Paul describes himself and his associates as servants, helpers, stewards and slaves, she writes: “In various ways Paul sends the message that the attention should be given not to the apostles, but to the one who appointed them and the task for which they have been commissioned.”

“Paul is not simply saying that they are leaders who have the attitude of a servant. He asserts that as servants they are the opposite of what the world esteems in status, privilege, and other worldly considerations when it considers them in their position. They are merely those who have been tasked by a master to whom they are responsible. As a result, their worth and identity come not from their own abilities, but solely from God. The Corinthians should esteem God rather than Paul and Appolos, who are merely the help God uses to accomplish his purposes [emphasis mine].”

My wife and I are watching the Neflix series The Crown, based on the life of Queen Elizabeth. In one recent scene, the Queen with her husband Philip is hosting President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy at Buckingham Palace. When the President and First Lady arrive, they are greeted by a ranking military officer and flanked by crisply uniformed staff. The officer escorts them to their audience with the Queen who is also attended by other courtiers and household staff. He announces them to the Queen and then, at the Queen’s signal, discretely withdraws with the rest of the staff leaving the two couples to talk privately.

As I thought about what Lee-Barnewall had written about servant leadership, Queen Elizabeth’s servants, especially the military officer who escorted the President, offered a perfect illustration of how church leaders and pastors should see themselves. Our job is to introduce others to the King and then get out of his way. We “…are merely the help God uses to accomplish his purposes.”

Amen.