Why Black and White Photography Hits Different

Brian Cleary
Dec 16, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Jan 2

by Brian Cleary/ bcpix.com

Since my dad handed me my first camera back in the 1960's, a plastic 126 roll film model, it seems like I've held a camera in my hands almost every day of my life. It was love at first sight as far as me and photography were concerned.

In fact, I've made a full time living in photography pretty much for the last 40 years.

Classic Kodak Tri-X 35mm film at Amazon

In the 1980's I was able to begin to live out a dream as a photographer of motorsports, and the time has flown by.

While it's not always a glamorous or overly prosperous business, as a fan of motor racing, I can't think of anything I'd change in the way my motorsport photography career evolved.

In the early days, I scratched out a few dollars by hiring myself out as a wire service photographer, stringing for the likes of The Associated Press and United Press International at any event I could wrangle a credential for.

When covering event for media outlets like these you were pretty much at the mercy of your employer as far as what film you were shooting to cover the event. If your editor handed you a few rolls of 35mm Kodak Tri-X black and white film, then that is what you were shooting that day.

This was never a problem for me, as I was always a fan of the old gritty photojournalism of the 1950's and '60's and even earlier, when photographers did not have the crutch of glorious color to lean on.

Color technology had not evolved far enough to be able to produce, process and transmit images in full color from remote locations like sports arenas and racetracks, and even as late as the 1980's, when I was breaking in, the process of transmitting a color photo was still complicated enough to make it not worthwhile at many events.

Again, this was fine with me, as I always loved the look of the black and white imagery and the idea that, like it or not, there was no color version of an image produced on black and white film available, so the monochrome version had to stand on its own merit.

To this day, if relieved tight time constraints and given the freedom to carry an extra film body at a track, I might run a roll or two of black and white film through a camera.

Check out the full 1994 Southern 500 race gallery by clicking here