Dubai: There’s a timeless quality to black and white photography.
But not every photograph works well in monochrome. The stark beauty of the super blue blood moon that UAE residents saw on January 31, for instance, had the perfect tonal contrast for a monochrome photograph. But that contrast would be lost in a picture that’s meant to revel in its colours, such as in an image of people celebrating the festival of colours, Holi, in India.
Without colour to guide the viewer’s eye, light and shadow become more obvious, and photographers have to look for interesting textures, curious shapes or expressive people to get the best out of their photograph.
Our reader photographers took up the challenge, as part of January’s Facebook Picture Competition theme: Black and white.
We posted the editor’s pick of top five images on Gulf News’ instagram page and asked our followers to vote for the picture that they thought best captured the theme.
The picture competition was also, as usual, opened to voting by our Facebook and Instagram readers, and they hit the ‘like’ button on the picture they preferred. Here, we present the winners with the most votes.
Editor’s note: If you would like to participate, log on to Gulf News’ Facebook page and send in your submission for February’s Facebook Reader Picture Competition.
FIRST PLACE
Ajai Krishna captured this image of young Emirati boys enjoying a winter’s day along Jumeirah beach, Dubai.
His picture received votes on 1,330 instagram and 14 likes on Facebook.
SECOND PLACE
Arindam Chatterjee’s portrait photograph is from a village called Viseu De Jos, in Romania. He said: ‘At the train station, this man was an active participant during the evening’s festivities. Other group members were laughing and making fun of him but I made him the focus of my picture. He offered me blueberries as if he had found his long lost son.’
His picture received 1,203 votes on instagram, and two likes on Facebook.
THIRD PLACE
For Mike Hook, nothing says monochrome better than the natural print of a zebra. He said: ‘I took this photograph at Kruger National Park in South Africa, when I saw two zebras playing. I was on safari when I saw the stallion and mare zebra courting during an early morning drive in the bush. I took two pictures of the zebras with a telephoto lens.’
His picture received 1,078 votes on instagram and 41 likes on Facebook.
FOURTH PLACE
Walking around the older parts of Dubai, Logeswari KM came across the perfect opportunity for a monochrome photograph, and said: ‘I took this picture at Bastakiya during an Instagram Photo Walk. This cat was resting at the entrance of a café and seemed to say: ‘Hello from the other side!’’
Her picture received 1,020 votes on instagram and three likes on Facebook.
FIFTH PLACE
Febin Thomas took his winning picture at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. He said: ‘I saw two gentlemen admiring a sculpture, and since their light clothes and the white sculpture contrasted with the black wall, it created the perfect black and white photograph.’
His picture received 777 votes on instagram and three likes on Facebook.
