Photo gallery: Behind Lens – Choosing black and white

A few area photographers exhibit some of their favorite black-and-white images.

photo by: Doug Stremel

A young girl stares out the window of Midland Railway Train in Baldwin City, KS. .Camera: Nikon D70 / Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR .

photo by: Doug Stremel

Doug Stremel Photo. Willie

photo by: Doug Stremel

Snowy Tree

photo by: Doug Stremel

Cowboy

photo by: Doug Stremel

.Josie

photo by: Doug Stremel

Jam

photo by: Audrey Pool

Cora Jane at 4.

photo by: Audrey Pool

Roan Henry, 8.

photo by: Kent VanHoesen

James Hopper and Laurie Culling inside the Jazzhaus circa 1983. Shot on Kodak Tri-X with a Nikon F (no meter) and a 28 mm lens.

photo by: Steve Smith

I made the photograph below using an iPhone 4 and edited using the iPhone app "Photogene." The photo was originally in color but I de-saturated to grayscale and enhanced contrast to make the photo B/W..I chose to eliminate color from the photo to emphasize the geometry and grain of the wooden fence and barn. Both are historical artifacts and the monochromatic black and white seems to emphasize timelessness and eternity to me.

photo by: Richard Gwin

This black-and-white film shot from 1985 was shot on a Nikon FM camera with a 180mm lens. To photograph inside Allen Fieldhouse required a fast film - Kodak's 3200 ASA, which was then processed in the JW darkrooms. The newspapers production manager would complain about the large amount of grain in the image, but it was about all we could do to get an image.

photo by: Nick Krug

Lawrence High school quarterback Brad Strauss, 2012.Using Photoshop, Krug converted a color RAW file into a sepia toned photograph to replicate older monochromatic portraiture.

photo by: Mike Yoder

This B/W photograph was from project documenting the Vinland Fair in Douglas County. While I did use color for some subjects, I did most of my work in B/W. In color, the colorful quilt may have overwhelmed the women on the bench below.

photo by: Matt Reineman

The BNSF Railway's Argentine Yard, as seen from an overpass in Argentine, Kansas..I shot this with an inherited Canon AE-1 using Ilford XP2 film. I enlarged it by hand and applied sepia toner in the darkroom at Southwest Junior High while I was a student there. Taken in the spring of 1999.

photo by: Patrick Emerson

I was trapped in Yankton, SD during a blizzard in 2008. I saw this deserted schoolhouse while driving in the countryside with a friend. Taken 12/26/2008 between Yankton and Scotland SD. Everything about this photo needed a B/W treatment. Between the blizzard and the barren schoolhouse stripped of paint, the scene was utterly devoid of any color or warmth. With B/W, it forces the eye to search for small details to help give some visual clues to what you are seeing in this world made unfamiliar by time and the weather. The trees in the distance reveal how far away the viewer is from the distant road. The interior paints the bleakness of an interior once filled with light and students, but now only contains desolation.