Picture This

Despite all the advancements in imaging—including the advent of color and the now dominance of digital—there’s something about classic black-and-white photography that will never go out of style. That’s not to say that just because a photo has been shot or converted to monochrome it’s guaranteed to be a great photo. The choice to go black and white must have some meaningful relationship to the subject matter or scene to be effective. For this assignment, we asked readers to submit their best black-and-white photos that use the dramatic impact of monochrome in a powerful way. Our six favorite images here certainly show just that.

Today’s camera gear is faster than ever and much of it is tailor-made for capturing any sort of motion or movement. So then why do so many photographers struggle to shoot compelling images of action, adventure, and energy? Part of it has to do with timing and part of it has to do with composition. Your camera and lens can only do so much and there’s more to a great action shot than simply capturing the moment and making sure it’s in focus. 

Our Picture This! assignment this month was Echoing Forms and we received a fantastic group of images showing this compositional technique, where forms seem to “echo,” or repeat within a frame. Submissions ranged from images that captured repeating patterns in nature such as the leaves on a tree or blades of grass, to more made-made forms, including images of machines and architecture. There were even several eye-catching images where animals seemed to echo each other, in a true expression of “copycatting.” Please check out some of our favorite Echoing Forms images from readers in the next few pages.