As a software engineer and systems architect for the past thirty plus years, my left-brain has enjoyed a long reign as king of the hill. Photography is equivalent to CPR for reviving the sleeping right brain.

During the good ole days of film shooting, I preferred shooting black & white photos (with the venerable Tri-X B/W film and my Yashica FX-103 SLR). I still prefer black and white photography as it relies more heavily on structure, tonal range, contrast, composition and forms. With the recent purchase of a Canon DSLR, I am moving from “snapshot shooting” with my point-and-shoot camera back to my roots in black and white photography.

I find that I have to relearn to see the world in black and white, but that will evolve with practice. The new challenge is learning the possibilities available during post-processing, which seem to be almost endless. Tweaking an image in Photoshop sure is a lot easier (and different) than dodging areas on a print in the darkroom with my hand.

A great image invokes emotion in the viewer. I am working towards the day when I can consistently capture that “WOW!” image.