B&W: People and places 1970-84

This page contains highlights from my Black & White images of people and man-made objects made before 1985. Other recently-digitized film images are on the “Oldies but Newbies” pages. Color images were taken before 2003; most of the B&W images were taken before 1985.

Many of the images have been digitized and printed  previously, but the superior new digitization method using the 43-megapixel Sony A7Rii camera results in finer prints (though it may not be obvious in the computer display). The images have been painstakingly edited for tonal balance, beauty, and detail preservation. Technical notes here.

People and places

Andre Kertesz, taken at a workshop organized by Michael Smith in 1971.

Navajo Reservation, Arizona, 1972. We had given her son, who was hitchhiking on the reservation, a ride,
and we were invited in.

Tuilleries Garden, Rue de Rivoli, Paris, 1981

Statue of St. Francis, Carmel Mission.

Ruins — have fascinated artists since at least the renaissance for several reasons. They remind of the past, which we may view as glorious (ancient Greece and Rome) or symbolic of a simpler life (our country of long ago, where there were fewer distractions). They make fabulous abstract designs. Decay often reveals essences that are not visible in new freshly-painted objects. Most artists are conservative in their nature— looking to the past (nothing to do with the current political version of conservatism). It’s a romantic view, often made through a lens that ignores the difficulties of living in the past.

I don’t remember the location of this gas pump in northern California. It’s been 45 years.

Norman Koren Image Gallery