"Not everything is black or white". You may have heard this phrase repeatedly throughout your lifetime. Basically it was used to point out that there isn't always a definitive solution to every situation in life. However in photography the incorporation of black and white photography produces additional details not initially seen by the eye. I feel black and white photography is an effective tool to enhance shadows, highlight outlines in patterns, and bring to light elements of a scene or aspects of an object that may be overlooked.
I present for example the first photo of benches lining the boardwalk. The use of black and white photography allows the lines in the grain of the wood in the boardwalk to become intensified. It captures the shadowy outlines cast by the benches, as well as shadows of objects not visible in the capture, thus adding to the viewer's visual experience. The capture of shadows of unseen elements allows the viewer to envision the scene for themselves, creating pictures of what the additional objects must look like. In a way black and white photography is the "imagination filter of photography". Writers use the words on a page to form a vision of the scene for the reader through descriptive imagery. Photographers using black and white images do the same through reflections and shadows.
The viewer must imagine the colors possible in a black and white capture. In this way writers and photographers using black and white film captures are similar.
