Do you also often leave exhibitions feeling inspired to make art afterwards? I’m no painter nor would I be able to draw a decent still life if my own life depended on it, but whenever I visit a collage or photography show, I cannot wait to get home to start making work myself. The same happened to me last week when I visited the show The Shape of Light: 100 Years of Photography and Abstract Art at Tate Modern. Looking at the pictures there, I realised that lots of the photos I take are of buildings or abstract scenes rather than of people, mostly concentrating on trying to find unusual angles or patterns. Having visited several photography shows over the last years, I’ve especially become fascinated with black and white photography. They usually look more captivating, mysterious, raw and ironically more authentic than a colour photo.
My black & white world on Girl Noir
Following the exhibition visit at Tate, I took black and white photos the rest of the day. I’m not sure about the quality of the photos, but it did take me a whole lot longer to get around that day, I can tell you that! I even started a new Instagram account (my 4th one already actually…) especially for these black and white photos, called Girl Noir, a pun on the film noir genre, one of my favourite film genres. Although I haven’t been going that long on that account yet, I’m really enjoying posting photos on there. Not having to worry about the colour brightness, contrast or filters, makes posting photos on Instagram much easier.
I wish I had the patience to learn all the functionalities on the sophisticated camera I bought last year, but luckily my new smartphone takes great pictures and enables me to edit them all very easily as well. Except for the photo above (LOOK), I don’t need to edit my black and white photos which is a real timesaver 🙂 (For LOOK I had to Photoshop out a hand that got in the shot.)
Want to connect on Instagram?
I’m always keen to discover new inspiring Instagram accounts, so please feel free to connect to one of my four (all very different) accounts:
- Girl Noir: my black and white photography account
- Dutch Girl in London: my main photo stream covering street art, architecture. travel and London
- Done That Been There: follow my alter ego on her travels around the world
- Lady Modular: my modular synth music world (I have my first ever live gig this November in Peterborough!)
Hope to see you online!
Zarina xx
Dat account ga ik natuurlijk gelijk volgen, ik houd enorm van zwart/wit foto’s! Vind ze vaak meer indruk maken dan kleurenfoto’s. Zag al een paar hele mooie bij jou!