Don Kirby, Wheatfield, Ping Gulch Road, WA

Anytime you think you are some kind of great photographer it takes an image like this to humble the ego.

"The black and white landscape is one of my true photographic loves. Color landscape photographs can be beautiful, capturing a moment in time and space for others to appreciate. As art, however, it's constrained by viewers' expectations regarding color. We know what the world looks like; images that deviate too far tend to feel discordant rather than creative. Then there's the "Velvia straightjacket," the irresistible trend toward a vivid, eye-catching color palette; appealing at first, but cloying over time.

"Black and white provides far greater latitude for interpretation. Images are already abstracted from reality by the absence of color, and radical departures from straight representation are readily accepted by the eye. Even the most iconic subjects can reveal something new to us when reinterpreted sensitively. An exploration of a subject that might seem uninteresting at first blush may take on an artistic life of its own, given enough time and room to breathe."    - - -   Geoff Wittig