Welcome to Pleasantville

I watched Pleasantville (The Movie) last night which I haven’t seen in years, and forgot how much I enjoyed it. To bring those who have not seen the film up to speed, it is about two teenagers (Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire) living in the 1990’s who find themselves in a 1950’s sitcom where their actions profoundly change this parallel world.

If you shoot black and white photography, watch the movie in reverse, it has a much happier ending. That was a joke, however, it will only make sense to those who have seen the movie. But I digress.

The first hour of the movie is completely shot in black and white since the world they get sucked into is your basic 1950’s sitcom ala “Ozzy & Harriet” which was before the advent of color television. As I watched the movie, I began to think about what it would be like to live in a world devoid of color.

My first reaction as a viewer was, “Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there,” however, as a black and white photographer, I feel it is mandatory that every time we grab our camera and had out for a shoot, we need to head straight to Pleasantville.

John Beardsworth said it best in his book “Advanced Digital Black & White Photography” when he wrote,

“The black-and-white photographer often exposes pictures not for how they appear straight from the camera, but in anticipation of what can be done in the darkroom.”

Or in our case the digital darkroom. He goes on to quote Ansel Adams, which happens to be my favorite photography quote of all time, “The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance differs in subtle ways.”

When you shoot with this technique in mind, chances are you are going to set certain preferences before taking the shot like exposure to capture the tones that will work best in a black-and-white photo. Not only will this allow you to spend more time behind the camera instead of behind the computer, it will also make for a better all around photo.

So before heading out on your next shoot, make sure you charge your batteries, clean your lenses, pack some munchies, and I will see you in Pleasantville!