Another Saturday night, and the wind howls and the cold penetrates our bones. Another Saturday night in March, in Michigan. It must be time to sort some photographs.
I have enjoyed experimenting with shadow and light this spring. I love the way the light dances on brick and stone and aged wood. You read
so much about how a "good" picture is one taken in even lighting,
where there isn't much contrast between the various elements in your photograph. But I think there's a place for contrast. 
It's amazing the different feel you get from a black and white photograph than you do from one in color. There's a mood, an atmosphere, to the monochome image that's difficult, if not impossible, to attain in a color image. For instance, each of these four images were taken with light and shadow in mind. But the monochrome images are moodier...there's an "atmosphere" in the bottom images that the top don't have.
As you look at your subject, think about what it would look like as a monochrome image. Photoshop Elements is the program I used to turn my color shots into black and white ones, and I know many cameras, including my own, offer that option right in the camera. It's an interesting way to look at the world, sometimes.
Have you read Gathering Blue, by Lois Lowry? Or The Giver, by the same author? There must be a reason I'd mention those young adult books in this post:).
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