The power of black and white photography lies in its stark simplicity. Without color to tell the story, other elements become even more important. Studying well-done black and white photos can be as good taking a class, and the thirteen Instagram accounts below—which feature black and white images with an occasional color image thrown in—are here to help you learn.
If you don't see your favorite black and white photographers here, share their Instagram feed URL in the Comments.
The Instagram account of Richard Koci Hernandez (aka Koci) mixes thoughtful quotations with striking photos. The connection of text to image is no surprise—Hernandez is a multimedia journalist. This image is accompanied by Alan Watts's observation that "nothing — the negative, the empty — is exceedingly powerful."
Matt Black's images are both works of art and social commentary. His Instagram account is mattblack_blackmatt; for more on his Geography of Poverty project, check out this NPR story.
I can't tell you anything about Black.Blood.Sandman. The photographer is as enigmatic as the account's photos.
Sabiye Valikhani, a.k.a. nellsphoto, shoots with an iPhone and is based in Iran.
The person identified only as "Corey" and soyboytoy1 explains their photographic this way: "I was getting so good at taking selfies. Then I thought: what would happen if I turned the camera around?" I'm so glad they did.
Scott Witt (scottwitt) is not only a photographer; he's also a creative director at Apple.
Walter Rothwell (walter_rothwell) is a documentary and street photographer and, judging by his feed, an animal lover.
Jamal Burger, or jayscale, is a Canadian photographer. If you like his work, you may want to investigate his SkillShare classes.
Emin Özmen (emin_ozmen) shoots photos and films in his native Turkey. This image shows "exhausted refugees who have just failed to cross the sea from the Turkish coast to the Greek island of Kos...They will try to cross again later."
There's a reason why jasonmpeterson has more than a million followers: his feed consistently kills it, post after post.
David Hurn has practiced his craft for many decades, and his davidhurnphoto feed reflects that. While you'll see photos he shot recently, such as the one here, he also posts images from the past.
Newspapers were once limited to black ink on white paper; Chicago's Vintage Tribune brings back those days. One example is this shot of a girl and her grandmother celebrating Hanukkah in 1964.
One more blast from the past: The New York Times Archives. For history lovers, the captions can be as interesting as the photos, as in this image of Don Hogan Charles, the first black photographer to be hired by the paper. Read more about Charles here.
March 9, 2018
