There are times when tonality and textures win out over colors, even subtle colors. I’ve always looked at black and white photography as an evolution of ink or pencil drawing. As I was out tonight in Leavenworth, the nearly full moon had risen into the twilit sky. The combination of twilight and moonlight over this section of a work building created the kind of “drawing opportunity” I would have sat around for hours sketching some 35 years ago.

What’s amazing is how the camera was able to handle this: Olympus E-M5, Panasonic 25mm at f/2, ISO 200, 1/160 second. I even dropped the exposure down 1/3 of a stop to pick up a little more dark detail on the side of the building. I would have struggled to create this kind of photograph with older Olympus cameras, such as the E-P2, E-3, and E-1. With the E-M5 it seems almost effortless now. Post processing was in Silver Efex Pro 2.

I finally found a road that follows the high bluffs above the Missouri river. I plan on being there tomorrow around 7pm local time to photograph the moon coming up over the far side of the river while the low sunlight still lights the tops of the trees. I saw that this evening and sat for awhile, just watching and appreciating. I left the camera in the car. Sometimes you just need to quietly experience the world rather than trying to violently photograph the hell out of it.