Black and White Switch
We see the world in color. But every once in a while I feel the urge to switch and see it in shades of grey. Maybe you feel it too. A need to change the perspective for a moment.
I photograph mostly in color, yet from what I have heard people often remember me as a black and white photographer. Maybe I perceive the world a little differently when I choose monochrome. I think that might be true.
It was a day like many others. February had ended, but spring in Norway was still a distant possibility. Still, something felt different. The clouds cleared and a blue sky appeared, tempting with colors and photographic possibilities. That was the moment I grabbed my camera and prepared for another day of street photography in Oslo.
Before leaving, I opened the menu on my Fujifilm X Pro1 and without thinking too much about it I switched the film simulation to black and white.
Just like that.
You could say it was counterintuitive. Even strange. I was not completely sure myself. To remove color on one of the first bright sunny days of the season felt unusual. Yet from the first frames at my train station to the very last photographs of the day, I did not regret it for a second. I enjoyed every frame and the shift in perspective it created.
My 0.95 lens could not stay wide open that day. I had never really considered using an ND filter before. Usually there is not enough light. That day there was more than enough. I had to lower the ISO to 100, push the shutter speed to 1/4000, and even then I ended up shooting around f5.6 or f8 in the bright sunlight.
This is nothing new of course. You and I have both photographed in black and white before. We know these moments and these feelings. But after a while this random decision started to feel intentional. It quietly set the direction for the entire day. And like many times before, once I decide on something I try to stay with it. I could not remember the last time I intentionally went out to shoot only in black and white. Maybe breaking the routine felt rewarding. Or maybe the first sunny day in a long time simply put me in a good mood.
I started at Oslo S. Familiar shapes and platforms began the story of that day. Early rush hour, trains moving in and out, and the Akrobaten bridge visible in the distance. With black and white set in the camera I began looking for shapes, pockets of light, shadows, and geometry.I found some of it at the bridge. The installation above cast a pattern of shadows that became a foreground to my small stage. I stayed there longer than I planned, but I left with a few frames that I really liked.
Eventually it was time to move on. The newly built neighbourhoods of Bjørvika became my next destination. It was a busier place. People enjoying the sun, almost photosynthesising in the light after the long winter. Buildings, people, shapes, and reflections. Even a slightly abstract patch in the thawing ice on the water caught my attention. The whole experience felt joyful. The photographs themselves are simply scenes from Oslo. Nothing groundbreaking. Nothing that has never been done before. Just moments frozen in time.
I finished the day at the Opera House. Probably the most cliché location for local photographers, but I still tried to make a few frames there. That day was never about creating a masterpiece or proving that black and white is better than color.
It was about something much simpler.
Making a small decision and sticking with it. No questioning. No changing halfway through. Just letting the process unfold.
Sometimes simple is enough.
That is what I took from that day. A slow reflection and a few frames that now live quietly in my collection.
And If you wish you can see a video from that day down below.
