Black & White vs Colour. Introversion & Extroversion.

I want to revisit this black and white rainbow photograph I posted yesterday.

I feel the scene knows me and that I know it. (Photo by the author)

Black and white highlights the relationships between objects. Everything seems intimately related. I tend to turn inward when looking at it. I feel the scene knows me and that I know it.

I don’t feel I want to walk into the picture. I want to be with it, as though I’m already in it and it’s already in me.

I feel differently when I look at the colour version:

I want to step into the photograph. (Photo by the author)

With the colour version, I feel alive, invigorated, maybe even thrilled and excited. I want to step into the photograph. I want to find out where this place is and go there. I want to be there.

I compare that feeling to the feeling I get from the black and white photo, namely that I’m already there and it’s already “here.”

In social media, the colour photo gets more “likes” and “shares” than the black and white one. It’s the extroverted picture.

The black and white version is more introverted, especially when enhanced by accompanying writing.

Maybe that’s something you would find worth noting, whether a photograph makes you feel more inwardly looking or more outgoing. And why.

The inquiry may take you way down the rabbit hole of aesthetics, art history, and art criticism, a fascinating wonderland that bears very much on the underlying theme of this blog: nonduality.