The Black and White of it...

Working with my students on using black and white photography, we started to discuss shades of gray. As I was trying to have them avoid using shades of gray in their photos, I was pushing them towards using subjects that had distinct contrasts. Definite blacks and whites. Then one of my girls spoke up. The shades of gray are just as important to define the contrast in the picture. Like at school, teachers keep trying to have us behave in the black and the white but it's the gray that makes us beautiful...ummmmmm, ok.