The Monochrome Project – One Colour, Different Stories

I’ve been thinking about starting a photography project for a while, simply to give myself something to work towards and concentrate on.

I love the way a simple project can begin as one small idea and gradually grow into something else. It gives you a reason to stop and think about what you’re photographing and, perhaps more importantly, why you’re photographing it. There’s another side to projects that I really enjoy too — the conversations they start with other photographers about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and where the idea might take you.

This particular idea started with a trip to Golspie.

It was one of those moody, rainy days which might not sound terribly inspiring, but can actually be some of the best conditions for making photographs. When I got home and started processing the pictures, there was one image I couldn’t quite decide what to do with.

Did I like it in full colour, as I had photographed it? Or did I prefer it in black & white?

There were some lovely colourful boats in the scene, which had originally caught my eye against the brooding sky in the background. So I tried a colour version.

Then I tried black & white.

And then I tried something different.

I made a version retaining just the blue, which really brought out the mood of the sky. Then I made another retaining just the orange, which suddenly brought much more attention to the fisherman and the boats.

Hold that thought for a minute.

When we talk about monochrome photography, most of us immediately think of black & white. But mono means one — and monochrome doesn't necessarily have to mean an absence of colour. It can mean working with one colour.

I love black & white photography. Since getting back into analogue photography, I find myself naturally steering towards black & white film. But sometimes it is colour that catches my eye.

And that got me thinking about these different versions of the same photograph.

How much can we change the story of a photograph simply through our use — or lack — of colour?

The black & white version makes me concentrate on that brooding sky, the shapes and the atmosphere.

The blue version still draws me towards the sky, but somehow it also makes the scene feel colder.

Then there’s the orange version.

Suddenly the emphasis changes completely. The fisherman and his boat become the anchor of the photograph. For me, the story is no longer simply about a stormy day on the coast; it becomes much more about the person out there amongst it.

Yet it’s exactly the same photograph.

That was the point when I thought: why not make a whole project out of this?

I want to explore the intentional use of one colour and how it can be used to manipulate — or perhaps guide is a better word — the story we tell through our photographs.

As photographers, we already do this in so many ways. We use exposure to make something feel light and airy or dark and dramatic. We use depth of field and focus to tell the viewer where to look. We choose our composition carefully to include some things and exclude others.

So why not colour?

Rather than simply looking for photographs that happen to contain one colour, I want to start asking myself what that colour is actually doing.

Where does it make me look?How does it make the photograph feel?Does changing the colour change the story?And what happens when colour is removed altogether?

I don’t really know where the project will end up — and I think that might be the most interesting part.

For now, the idea is wonderfully simple:

One colour. One photograph. And a whole lot of different stories.

So, let’s see how we go!