I have written at length on my other web site about my encounter with Eveready Freddy. If you go there, you’ll note that I processed all my photos of him as black and whites. It was a phase. It’s what people were doing then. A street aesthetic. Make it grainy. Make it gritty. Make it black and white.
The fact is: when I met him, Freddy was in trouble. He had no money. He’d been beaten up. And although he insisted he was all right, I had a suspicion he was bipolar and in a manic phase, so of course he would say he’s all right. I don’t think it helps someone who is suffering to take the images you make of them and process them in a way that conforms to your “house aesthetic.” It ends up romanticizing their suffering or minimizes it. This reminds me of domestic violence victims who cover the bruises with makeup. Only, in this instance, it’s me and not the victim who applies the makeup.
So here we have Freddy in colour. Grey stubble. Split lip that looks raw in a way that black and white masks. There’s still an element of artifice in the portrait insofar as he’s posing. But that’s something he chose to do and not something I directed.
For the time being, I have adopted a new rule when it comes to black and white images: present the image as shot. So if you’ve shot in colour, then present the image in colour. Process the photo in black and white only if you can clearly articulate the reason for your decision, and always be sure that your reason favours the subject.
