Comments on: Richard Bram: In Color!

By: laura noble

laura noble — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 21:08:00 +0000

What a fantastic selection from a great photographer beloved for his his black & white photographs, now in glorious color!
Full of great advice & insights into street photography. Very inspiring & encouraging, not to mention generous, my favourite kind of photographer.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 11:15:00 +0000

“Bob, while you’re fiddling with that camera, the herd of buffalo is moving on.”)

like it

By: Richard Bram

Richard Bram — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:31:00 +0000

Thanks, Tom, for the intelligent questions. I’ll do my best: I’ve always worked in color, from my very beginnings as an amateur taking the usual buildings, flowers, sunsets and little geometric compositions like everyone else. Later as I became a commercial shooter of public relations, public events and performance in Louisville, Ky, shooting color transparencies was the daily routine, and thousands of rolls passed through my cameras. I’m as comfortable shooting this as I am in black and white.

Working in color for my personal work is tougher, as it always is because there are more variables to be dealt with: The eye goes to anything red, yellow is very bright and can overwhelm other things that should be the focus of attention, red and green next to each other create serious visual tension – do I want it or not? These are lessons from basic Art Theory and Art History and cannot be ignored. That said, when shooting commercially I had to deal with all these issues, but haven’t done it for a while so am re-learning much that I once knew and had gotten rusty. Editing, as always, is a harsh and unforgiving process – so many frames, so few photographs.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:11:00 +0000

Thanks very much, Stephen. A compliment from you, a master of colour yourself, is not given lightly!

I’d like to see it in London, too – any ideas of possible venues I could approach? We shall speak anon… and on and on.

All the best,

Richard

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 11:15:00 +0000

I really enjoyed looking at Richard’s colour sequence in the article as they still feel unfamiliar compared with his B&W work. The first shot in particular is a stand-out. Very generous advice given as well which I will be passing onto colleagues.

Would love to see the exhibition in London at some point.

StephMcLaren

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 05:54:00 +0000

Firstly thank you for this interview.
It is interesting to read the color work stems from a desire to push yourself.
Having enjoyed success and built a reputation in b&w, how confident and comfortable are you working in color?
Could you or would you express a preference?

By: Nicola Albon

Nicola Albon — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 22:53:00 +0000

Great interview, good insights and lots to think about!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:38:00 +0000

Thanks for a good question, Troy. I’ve been shooting seriously since 1984 and have made a career and a reputation from my black and white work. But when you’ve been working a long time one way, you have to ask yourself “Am I in a groove or just caught in a rut?” Turning to color is a way to shake myself up, to give myself a new challenge, perhaps to re-invigorate my work. It’s harder to do well, as I said above, because there are so many more variables that one has to deal with. For example, in the photo above of the girl in the lavender dress having her portrait made, this photo would work well enough in black and white: what is happening, the look of the hunkering little boy, the mom on the phone and so on would be very clear. However, the little bits of yellow and purple and red dancing back and forth across the frame that give it a lightness would be gone.

Conversely, I have a photograph from 1996 on the in-public site http://www.in-public.com/RichardBram/image/1476 that goes the other way. This one works because it is not in color. The little girl soft-focus in the background doesn’t draw your eye away from the main action, the intensity of the couple. But in real life, that little girl was wearing a bright pink-purple-yellow patterned jacket and your eye would dwell on her rather than the somberly dressed protagonists which is what I wanted the photograph to be about.

I still shoot black and white – I haven’t given it up. But for now I’m going to hang with color for a while – it’s harder and embracing a challenge is what keeps you alert and alive.

By: Troy Holden

Troy Holden — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:17:00 +0000

I’ve been shooting for 3 years and more recently focusing on shooting in the streets in San Francisco. And I shoot primarily in color. I’m in the minority there.

I see alot of other photographers (new school to old masters) processing street images in BW by default. I’m starting to consider images I would process in BW, but I’m not quite there yet. It feels like I’m working in reverse in that regard.

Being an accomplished BW shooter, what is it about color that’s piqued your curiosity when the standard in this genre seems to be BW?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 10:57:00 +0000

Thank you, Troy. I’m not sure what more I could say in addition to what is above, but if you have a specific question, just ask.