Kevan Schlamowitz uses the Tamron SP 24-70mm VC lens to convey emotion in the absence of color.

By Jenn Gidman
Images by Kevan Schlamowitz

In his work as a psychologist, Kevan Schlamowitz helps clients "reframe," or view their world from a different perspective. "In my photography business, I'm drawn to do the same thing, which is to show something from a unique perspective to anyone willing to take the time to see it, then share its beauty or the emotions it generates," he says.

And while Kevan shoots in both color and black-and-white photography, it's B&W imagery that allows him to more fully experiment with the way the light falls on certain textures and patterns, highlighting the contrasts and elements that may be missed in a color photo. "The absence of color emphasizes that which remains—the shapes, composition, and emotion of an image," Kevan says. "When we look at a gorgeous fall color picture, those facets exist within the structure of the elements, but they sometimes are overwhelmed by all of those colors."

Kevan previsualizes most of his B&W images before he even takes his camera out of his bag. "I'll see an object and make a mental note of how the light is hitting it at that time of day, in that particular location," he says. "By the time I go back to actually shoot it, I've got the entire scene in my head, with its full range of contrasts, shapes, and shades of gray. I love having the ability to bring out the details that would otherwise be obscured and watered down in color."

For his black-and-white work, Kevan taps into the Tamron SP 24-7omm VC lens to help him bring those photographic visions to fruition. "Three things convinced me to buy this lens," he says. "One, the value and bang for the buck I'd get; two, how it's as sharp or even sharper than similar lenses I've used; and three, the Vibration Compensation (VC) feature, which has significantly increased the amount of handheld work I can do. The VC helps me manage the lower ISOs I often like to use and ensures my images stay super-sharp."

Whether Kevan decides to shoot an image in color or B&W depends on the scene at hand, the emotion he wants to evoke, and whether he can create a picture that defies expectations. "For instance, there are some scenes you wouldn't necessarily expect to work as a black and white, like an image I took of a sunset (shot at 24mm, 1/125th of a second, F/13, ISO 400)," he says. "Most people associate sunsets with color, for obvious reasons. But in this case, the sun was almost all the way down below the horizon and I knew it would be a much more dramatic image in black and white."

Kevan notes how the landscape at that time of day was more or less monochromatic and how that particular area of the desert wasn't that colorful. "There are shades of green that are subtle and muted," he says. "I figured if I took the shot in black and white, I could bring out the emotion I was feeling, which was magnificence and grandeur of that vast area. Desert landscapes are often very stark and harsh, and B&W is often better than color in conveying that emotional tone. It also worked well here for capturing the lines of the starburst."

Shooting in black and white also enables Kevan to take an everyday object and transform it into a piece of fine art. "When you live here in the Southwest desert, the saguaro cactus is ubiquitous," he says. "You become used to their size, their monochromatic color (they don't change color in the fall). But when you dig into the details, the symmetry and the interplay between light and shadow, they start to reveal themselves. They become akin to a fine-art painting."

As an example of this, he cites the photo he calls "A Thorny Situation" (shot at 70mm, 1/125th of a second, F/13, ISO 200). "I knew this image would be a black-and-white one before I took it, because I was able to appreciate its painterly qualities at an almost abstract level," he says.

This photo is a perfect example of how B&W photography allows Kevan to capture the textures, lines, and patterns that the eye may not naturally pick up on in a color photo. "It shows how light interacts with the cactus to make that image pop," he says. "Had I taken that image with light hitting it straight on and in color, it would not have been as dramatic as I wanted it."

In taking what Kevan calls the "Towering Saguaro" picture (24mm, 1/500th of a second, F/14, ISO 200) in black and white, it allowed him to reveal both the repeating ridge-depression-ridge-depression structure, as well as the variations in girth going up the length of the cactus. "Those undulations signify the variations in rainfall over the many years of a cactus' life," he says. "The saguaro doesn't even sprout an arm until it's at least 80 years old, so the cactus in this image may be over 200 years old. Black and white allows me to show the highlights and shadows as your eye travels up the length of the cactus' body. It's subtle, and in color you never would have noticed it."

Another reason Kevan enjoys taking pictures in B&W: the ability it gives him, and the viewer, to parse out detail within scenery that's largely monochromatic or homogeneous. "Look at the image I call 'Thimble Peak Trail,' for example," he says. "Moving away from color in that picture really permitted me to give the viewer a better grasp of the complexity of the tangled desert vegetation that's in the foreground, all the way back to the rugged mountain range in the background. All that vegetation is a pale-greenish shade, so shooting it in color wouldn't have made the image more effective. You can see the tonalities of the different plants better in B&W, especially if you use filters."

One thing that taking black-and-white photos allows Kevan to do that he can't pull off as effectively when taking color photos: shooting in midday. "For color images, most photographers prefer the golden hours when the light is long and oblique," he says. "But black-and-white photography benefits more from the harsh light of midday. For the 'Towering Saguaro' image, for instance, I wanted to take that photo at around noon, with the sun right overhead, to get the type of shot I was looking for here. There are a lot of great images you can take in very stark lighting when photographing in B&W."

Shooting slightly underexposed allows Kevan to capture the broad tonal range he wants in his B&W images. "I can always open the shadows in post, but while I can dodge-and-burn with the best of them, if I blow out the highlights, I can't get back what's blown out," he says. "So I'll shoot about a third or a half-stop under, and I'll bracket when I think it can help me."

A polarizing filter has become one of Kevan's tried-and-true tools for his black-and-white photos, though not to cut down on glare or reflections. "I use it to create a mood," he explains. "Ansel Adams' iconic shots always have that beautiful blackish-colored sky, and a polarizing filter is great for achieving that. I know if I'm going to shoot, say, a mountain range with the sky in it, like the Santa Catalina range I show here (42mm, 1/100th of a second, F/11, ISO 100), a polarizer will make the image much more dramatic: The clouds are going to pop against the sky, and the mountains will be that much crisper."

In fact, skyscapes have proven especially excellent subjects for Kevan's B&W photos. "Clouds are more complex structures than our eyes can record and observe," he says. "When we look up, we either see them as overwhelmingly white or, if it's been raining, overwhelmingly gray or dark. But in my images, you'll notice the variety of shading, density, and forms that the clouds have. You might have a cumulus cloud, then some stratus clouds higher up in the photo. It's harder to see that in color: The blue of the sky and the whites of the clouds overwhelm us from making those distinctions."

When it comes time to head into post-processing mode, Kevan uses the tools at his disposal to create an "emotional conveyance." "To paraphrase Ansel Adams: The image is the score, but the darkroom is the performance," he explains. "These days, the darkroom is digital, and I'm going to use the tools I have available to me to make the image the way I want it to look in order to express what I want it to express, even if it's something as simple as slightly boosting the contrast."

Kevan stresses that you don't have to live in the American Southwest to capture black-and-white beauty. "That capability exists in every environment—you just need to have the willingness and patience to see it," he says. "If you're in New York City, you've got architectural opportunities in the various buildings and skyscrapers that I don't have here in Tucson. And everyone's got the sky, no matter where they live."

To see more of Kevan Schlamowitz's work, go to http://kevanphotography.com.