Tatiana Ambrose

We love hearing from young people who are starting out in B&W.

Tatiana Ambrose is a 21-year-old writing student from Missouri who has done some good beginner B&W work. She’s just starting out in B&W but we think she has a real feel for it, and look forward to seeing more of her work in the future.

(And just to prove how with it we are here at bwphotopro.com, three of the images were made with an iPhone. Can you tell which ones? The answer will be posted with our next update.)

Tatiana Ambrose, pictured at right. Below, she talks about being a B&W photographer:

How much of your work in is B&W?

A little over 1/3rd of my work is in black and white.

What does working in B&W mean to you?

Black and white delivers the emotion and makes people really look at the subject. Color is great but sometimes it can be distracting, if you have a picture of a bright flower, people tend to focus on the 'awesome color' where if it was the same picture in black and white people would focus on the flower texture and form instead.

Where do you find inspiration? Who are you photo heroes?

Inspiration is all around me. I find inspiration in nature and by simply being in love with taking pictures, this motivation is inspiration itself. My photo heroes come from everywhere, most people focus on the widely-known photographers but I also like to acknowledge the lesser known ones/underground photographers that upload pictures to the Web and share their passion with the world. To narrow it down to some specific names I would definitely say Ansel Adams, for his breathtaking landscapes. Then James Nachtwey, not because I like war photography (it really is very hard for me to look at such pictures) but for the way he captures the raw emotion - I end up flinching just remembering his pictures. Last but not least, Sally Mann; her black and white pictures of children are eerie but they definitely tell a story.

Technical: camera, lenses, film, digital or darkroom approach & materials.

This is where I confess I am not a photographer with fancy camera equipment (though I wish I was!). For capturing a great image I use my Kodak EasyShare C1013, when I am in the mindset of ‘lets go on a scavenger hunt for a few hours in the world.’ Yet, I don't carry my Kodak with me 24/7, so if I am walking and see something that catches my attention I pull out my iPhone 3GS. I would rather capture an image with not the greatest clarity than risk losing that rare spectacle that caught my eye in the first place. The world is such a fast moving and changing place that there is a high chance you won't see that particular image for many more years or ever again.

Black and white photography has been around for ages, it is how people got started taking pictures. Black and white photography will never go out of style because sometimes a rainbow of colors in a photo doesn't do much more than please the eye. A black and white photo, however, pleases the mind because you see the subject of the photo and the story it tells. If anyone says that black and white photography is boring it can be assumed that they don't understand the raw power it holds over the mind. Just like the clothing rule of ‘black goes with everything,’ a black and white photo can fit onto any wall.

I have a flickr account to where you can see more of my photography: www.flickr.com/photos/tambrose

If you love taking photos, keep on doing it whether you become well known or not because they tell the story of your world that can be passed down for many generations. How you see the world reflects in your photos.