Why Black And White Phorography? Poem by Jim Yerman

What is the purpose of black and white photography?
I admit…I wasn't sure when I started this task…
but after spending 7 days exploring…
it's a question I no longer ask.

Take a child for instance…filmed in black and white
you see her innocence…her grace…
Emptied of all its color and hue
the camera captures childhood…there…on her face.

We see her sitting in the grass with a smile on her lips
as the sun on her cheek adds a sheen.
We look into her eyes…and it's there we discover
exactly what childhood means.

Childhood is eating moon pies..it's chocolate…
It's splashing barefoot in a cool mountain stream…
It's catching fireflies around a campfire.
It's climbing trees and eating ice cream.

It's picking flowers because you like their color.
Its putting pennies on the tracks of a train.
It's catching snowflakes on the tip of your tongue.
It's dancing…outside…in the rain…

It's getting dirty…it's chasing butterflies…
It's playing tag with the waves at the shore…
Yes, in her eyes we can see how her childhood
are all these things…
all these things…and so many more…

I wonder if that is the purpose of black and white photography…
perhaps that is its goal…
In color you capture a subject's presence…
In black and white…you can capture their soul.