Learn the Color of Color: Mastering the Art of Color Photography

Very few photographers have a true appreciation for the value of color photography as a valid artistic expression of reality. Certainly one of the pioneering purveyors in this concept of color photography as art has to be Joel Meyerowitz. Bucking the trend of black & white photography being “the colors of photography” [Robert Frank], Meyerowitz began shooting both black & white and color photographic “doubles,” of the same subject (using two cameras), in 1963. The results of this endeavor are dramatically and visually displayed inside his recent book, Joel Meyerowitz: A Question of Color (2023; Thames & Hudson Ltd, London).

Wannabe color photographers should consider this 224-page book as a must read for learning the color of color. This is an incredible value (priced at $27.95) for receiving an in-depth education from a master photographer, which will “…get people to accept that color has a lot to say…”.

Time Will Tell

Based on his exhibition at Tate Modern, Joel Meyerowitz: A Question of Color builds on over sixty years of exploration by Meyerowitz into understanding color. Small bits of encouragement along his journey (pricelessly effused by his wife and two daughters) finally culminated in a meeting with Jean-Luc Monterosso from the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris who exclaimed that Meyerowitz was the “missing link” in the segue from black & white to color photography.

Throughout the book, Meyerowitz has arranged his “doubles” in a juxtaposition showing the color photograph, primarily using 1/250th of a second exposures, alongside its 1/1000th of a second black & white doppelgänger. These photographs were taken with a pair of 35mm cameras. Towards the conclusion of the book, however, this oeuvre is supplemented by his 8- x 10-inch Deardorff view camera work from Cape Cod in 1976 and 1977. These view camera images build on the examination of the color of light as an aesthetic expression. For those readers interested in this aspect of his exploration of color, a more complete treatment of his view camera work can be found in the now classic book, Cape Light: Color Photographs by Joel Meyerowitz (1978; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New York Graphic Society, Boston; Little, Brown and Company).

Certainly, some critics could claim that digital editing software enables a similar more immediate comparison between black & white and color images. In fact, Meyerowitz, himself points out, ” It’s the flip of a switch nowadays.” But, regardless of your preferred technique, learning the color of color through A Question of Color will prove invaluable, “Because it describes more things.”

Enjoy.