Inquirer staff photographer Tom Gralish’s weekly visual exploration of our region
November 8, 2021: The skulls on a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) altar are blurred as the lens is zoomed during the taking of the photo as the Mexican holiday was celebrated in LOVE Park on Nov. 1 and 2. The altar was created by Mexican artist Cesar Viveros, for the day that helps people remember the deceased and honor their memory by building altars. They leave ofrendas (offerings) to their loved ones' souls, including food and drink, orange and yellow flowers, and photos and mementos.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
I received an email from a reader who saw both the black and white and color versions of a photo that appeared with my Monday photo column last month. He assumed (correctly) that I take all my photos in color, but wondered if I ever think about how they will look in black and white.
The quick answer is “yes,” I do think about it, almost all the time. But I know that most of the pictures I produce will be viewed by more eyes online, in color.
Most of the time it doesn’t make much difference, as other elements — the location, people and what they are doing — are more important than the colors.
Advertisement
But with my weekly column, many of the pictures I use are scenes that catch my eye for their composition, juxtaposition, lighting, or color.
Like today’s image. It was the brightly painted Día de los Muertos skulls I noticed. I tried a few ways to photographically capture their vibrancy before deciding to do the zooming during my exposure (Nikon Z6 II; Z 24-70 2.8; 1/4 sec. @ f/16; ISO 250; at twilight). I knew it would not be as pretty in B&W, but I hoped the blurs would still work when seen by readers of our analog dead-tree print edition.
Sometimes it just doesn’t work. As photographers who used to shoot black and white will recall, monochrome photography doesn’t mean strictly black and white, but a continuous scale of shades of grey. Different shades of blues, reds, purples and greens can all end up blending together in B&W.
And sometimes it’s not the shades that make the difference. Imagine this Photo in black and white. And you’ll “see” why you’re only seeing it here - and not in my B&W newspaper column.
Finally, I mentioned earlier this year a project our photo staff has been working on - each of us shooting for one week with the same 35mm mechanical camera and lens with manual exposure and focus, using just one roll of B&W film. As promised then, I will link here when the story is eventually published about our experiment.
Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
November 1. 2021: A public service announcement disguised as a weekly Scene photo. Don't forget to vote tomorrow! For the first time ever, New Jersey offered in-person voting last week ahead of Tuesday's general election. This was the scene at the Camden County Elections and Archive Center in Blackwood.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
October 25, 2021: Juxtaposed signs score a bull's-eye in the shared parking lot of a national retailer and local craft brewery in Northern Liberties.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
October 18, 2021: Dan Lanzilloti walks north on South Broad Street to his home in South Philly after participating in the Broad Street Run last Sunday. He ran with a unicorn head and two portable "companions" (all in his bag) and a sweatshirt reading, “Men of quality do not fear equality.” He finished 11175th overall, with a time of 2:57:27, but entertained runners along the way saying, “Too much love is never too much.”Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
October 11, 2021: Paulo Carminati carries a keyboard into St. Paul's Church in Stone Harbor to join his choir, Coro Mundi, as it holds its first in-person rehearsal since the coronavirus pandemic.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
October 4, 2021: A 1950s Dodge Meadowbrook is parked near Front and Main Streets in Camden. The Meadowbrook was introduced in 1949 to be the mid-range car in the Dodge line. By 1952 the entry-level Wayfarer was discontinued, making the Meadowbrook the cheapest car in the Dodge line.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
September 27, 2021: Pigeons take flight along Buttonwood Street. A bird lover had just dropped some seed along the sidewalk near Broad Street.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
September 20, 2021: There is action in miniature at the Soccer 2026 Pitch at the visitors center at Independence National Historical Park. It is part of Philadelphia's bid to be chosen as one of 10 cities to host matches when the FIFA World Cup comes to the United States in 2026. Philadelphia Soccer 2026 welcomes the public to play and contribute their own memories to the exhibit (rear) and "show FIFA and U.S. Soccer the passion of the local soccer community."Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 13, 2021: Ophelia Santo and Nicole Nunez, 4, in downtown Coatesville. Nicole’s mother operates a hair salon on Lincoln Avenue, the main street through town. Santo is a family friend.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
September 6, 2021: The time - 9:03:02 A.M. - that United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into Tower Two (the South Tower) of the World Trade Center is embedded in the walkway at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa. Four time line markers chronicle the exact moment each of the four hijacked aircraft crashed on 9/11.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 30, 2021: Smoking, food, bikes or pets are not allowed on the hallowed grounds of the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa. "No Photography" signs are also posted inside the Visitor Center and gift shop. But not for the reason you might expect. It's because some of the images in the permanent exhibit space where the hijacked plane crashed on Sept. 11, 2001 are copyrighted, and cannot be reproduced.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 23, 2021: A scene along the salt marshes and small inlets in Port Republic, Atlantic County, where the Mullica River flows into Great Bay. The area is not far from the monument marking the location of the Battle of Chestnut Neck, one of the stops along the 130-mile Pinelands National Scenic Byway designated earlier this year.Read moreTOM GRALISH / TOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 16, 2021: Delores and Novic - they didn’t want to give last names, saying, “What happens in AC stays in AC" - avoid the beach, preferring to sit in the shade of the casinos on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 9, 2021: Lill Hayes does a wheelie along the Boardwalk in Atlantic City.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
August 2, 2021: Chris Coger (left) on Shadow and Malik Divers astride Big Sunny ride in Clark Park in West Philadelphia. Divers rides out of the brand-new Concrete Cowboys stables at Bartram's Garden. (He coined the term for his horse-riding program more than a decade ago, before the Idris Elba movie that took the same title rather than use that of the book, "Ghetto Cowboy," it was based on.)Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
July 26, 2021: A relatively recent addition to the Fashion District and Center City skyline (seen from the Philadelphia Bus Terminal, in the 1000 block of Filbert Street) a large tenpin joins City Hall (right, completed in 1901) and One Liberty Place (center, completed in 1987).Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
