Black and white pictures can be just as powerful--if not more powerful--than images that include color. We are not judging a competition, however; both styles have clear merit. The artist uses the medium that best suits his or her purposes, and sometimes black and white images are a perfect fit for what he or she has to say.

Such was certainly the case for Ansel Adams, who specialized in black and white photographs of the Western United States. Adams used the black and white format to expose the raw force--and breathtaking beauty--of nature. His "El Capitan" features both the peacefulness and raw energy found in the natural world. This study in contrasts is wonderfully suited to the medium.

Black and white photography can also lend a sense of distance (in terms of perspective) to a subject. A baseball is a common artifact in today's world, but the scuffed ball in Ed Goldstein's black and white "Baseball" is immediately evocative of another time and place. Similarly, John Rawlings's "One Cigarette, Two Lights" (which features a woman choosing among two male-proffered lighters), from the April 1950 edition of Vogue, is reminiscent of a different era and a different mode of social interaction.

Here at ARTinaClick.com, we make a huge number of black and white pictures available through our online catalog. Many of our pictures are offered in a range of sizes, and all are offered with customer-chosen frames. The convenient layout of our catalog makes it easy to find a grouping of similar black and white images for coherent and unforgettable displays.

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