New Mexico: 18 Hours in Black and White
February 1, 2024
I first visited New Mexico in March 1991 while on a cross-country road trip with a friend, armed with dozens of rolls of Kodak PX 5062 black and white film. Although I fell in love with the beauty and color of the area—the amazing blue skies and earth tones of the landscape and architecture—it was the dark tones and deep contrasts of the black and white image that added an almost moody and mysterious aura into my work.
In today‘s world, we are used to instant gratification when it comes to digital cameras and smartphones. Long gone are the days of dropping off a roll of film to a photo-processor and waiting an hour (or sometimes longer) to see the images, or taking even longer if you were developing your own film to make contact prints and enlargements.
There are several advantages to getting back that wait time of one-hour processing. There’s something special about the anticipation that builds up as you wait for your photos to be processed. It gives you a chance to reflect on the moments you captured and relive them in your mind.
Let’s not forget the excitement of picking up your prints after that hour of waiting! It’s like opening a present filled with cherished memories. Plus, the nostalgia factor. In this digital age where everything is instant and disposable, taking the time to physically develop your photos brings back that old-school charm. It allows you to appreciate the art of photography in its traditional.
Using technology—not for its speed, I have embraced and have begun to experience the one-hour photo philosophy. After clicking and capturing an image, I am unable to see it for an hour. I don’t immediately know how that image that I captured will turn out. After 60-minutes, the light and shadows around me will be different, the mood may have changed, and I may not even be in the same physical location, even miles down the road.
So, with our recent visit to New Mexico—as I do during almost all of my travels—I recorded our 400-mile roadtrip in one-hour-photo-black-and-white fashion. This wait gives me time to appreciate the art of photography and builds anticipation of seeing the memories come to life. And of course, patience. As each minute passes by, I become more excited to see how my images have turned out. It adds an element of surprise and joy when I finally get to see those photographs. Lyman Abbott says the “patience is passion tamed.” Well said, Lyman.
The 18 photographs shared here represent 18 hours of wait time.
And why black and white? Celiné Nebor of Blind Magazine says “Black and white requires a greater focus on the composition and is well suited to documentary photography, images of architecture, portraiture, and many other uses. Color, in turn, helps foreground the subject: a person, a piece of clothing, or a texture, which become the center of the viewer’s focus.”
I guess that is why I enjoy shooting in both color and black and white. And why New Mexico lends itself so beautifully to both. There is a reason the state is known as “The Land of Enchantment.”
“Color is descriptive. Black and white is interpretive.”
—Elliott Erwitt
