Monochromatic Travels

Perhaps it's my colorblindness -- deuteranopia, to be precise. I've always had a hard time trusting my vision on subtle shades of certain colors and tints. Black & white is a medium where I can be confident I'm seeing exactly what others see. I still enjoy color photography, but have gotten in the habit of thinking of color as any other element in an image -- something that either adds or detracts. A choice to be made, not a default assumption. Plus, the fact that we don't see in black and white means there's no overlooking the fact that we're not seeing unfiltered reality, but a specific, deliberate version of reality. A version that highlights textures, shapes, shading, and mood. Aspects of an image that are always of interest to me. The photos here are from travel over the past year or two. While I sometimes shoot in color and convert to B&W later, all but one of these were shot in monochrome in the moment, with most of the decisions about tonality, clarity, and exact framing (none of these have been cropped) made right then. I try to focus my creativity wherever possible in the moment, rather than as a secondary step behind a computer.