Weekly Black and White Photography Thread 49 (11 Jan 2026)

Interesting shot. I would agree a faster shutter speed would have made a big difference. Moving water is a wonderful subject element. However, it can be tough subject element. Here the energy of the water is lost in the blur. Back in my large format days, I often too four shots at different shutter speeds simply because if I lugged my 4x5 setup into the high country I didn't want to be looking at the negatives after development and say, "oh drat, I should have used a different shutter speed. 😖

Running Free

taken in the summer of 2021 in the Alps, near to the mountain pasture called Steinbockalm

Fireplace33,

Very nice.

Congratulations.

Steve Thomas

The water was certainly quite milky/foamy to begin with, but the nice thing is I can go back and try again. 🙂

I like that I know what it is, but I don't know what it is. Cool abstract.

A man after my heart. There is no more beautiful sight than the grace and power of a horse. Beautiful horse. Makes me want to go out and climb on mind - oh wait that's what I'm going to do this morning. Beautiful location and nicely captured.

I know, I know. They're not horses, but...😃

Steve Thomas

Butterfly lights? An interesting composition. You can't blame me I have a soft spot in my heart - maybe also my head - for equines. I got my first pony at 4. I aggravated my grandfather for my first horse at 6. My youth was misspent chasing cows on horseback going fox hunting and playing baseball. You can trust a good horse much more than even the best humans. A good horse always has your back. i've been riding for 3/4's a century come July. The amazing thing is I must have been good at it - on serious injuries. Of course a knock on wood here.

Trevor,

The smoothest ride I was ever on, I think , was on an Appaloosa mare. When she galloped, she would flatten out real close to the ground and ride like the wind.

The worst ride I ever had, was on an ornery cuss who kept trying to scrape me off his back by getting real close to trees and running his flank along the tree trunk. Grrr...

Took a three-day pack trip into the Bitteroots one time. That was nice.

Steve Thomas

I have hardly ever ridden but have to agree. Quite some years ago I stumbled onto "The man who listens to horses" by Monty Roberts. When I got my dog 3 years ago I bought a copy to refresh on the story with a view to seeing if I could equate anything he had learned to interacting with my dog. I read a little before I sleep and if I have nothing else I keep going back to that book.
Most humans don't consider animals as having any intelligence. They may not have spoken language, but they certainly have various levels of highly developed awareness. As well as individuality.

I have experienced that on a somewhat troublesome horse. I was helping my GF check the cattle (1980 - well before ATVs). We used to gallop them the last few hundred metres and he would run up under a row of pine trees along the fence. I would have to hang off the side and basically fell off once when he cut into the driveway...

I'm trying to learn spot metering.

I've decided that the only way I'm going to succeed is if I only photograph things that are one foot square, and they are all black. 😋

Steve Thomas

During my days of lugging around 4x5's and the insanely heavy RB67, I extensively used a spot meter. In reality I was doing all the work that matrix metering does today. Taking multiple readings so I could make the compromises in exposure so I could prioritize the small area I wanted. While in insanely extreme lighting conditions there is some need for spot metering, modern camera's matrix metering is very good. Couple that with the brains behind the camera and an exposure compensation dial, I haven't used spot metering in a long time. But on your image it's easy. Spot meter the white sent that to Zone 8 and your done. 😂

Steve, ride the Appaloosa mare. Some horses develop bad habits - mostly because they have bad owners. My wife always loved horses. She never had one but always dreamed of riding. She sort of resented me for the fact I was more or less raised by a Morgan - Arab cross. Everything lined up with jobs, travel, location and we got enough land to support horses. We bought a couple of horses and I got her riding lessons. I went with her weekly, the instructor worked with her as a beginner and then with my horse we worked on jumping. I did the lessons because there was no way my wife would take instructions from me. It was expensive but not near as much as divorce.

That was 40 years ago. I told her the only thing you need to do is train your horse well, be good to your horse then you can trust it. If you horse doesn't trust you and doesn't like you - he/she won't take care of you. Many people say I am nuts, but finding the right horse is like finding the right spouse. There has to be a fit and a commonality of goals.

Uh oh. I'm in trouble now.

Steve Thomas

I don't know if it is intelligence. However, animals do communicate. We humans tend to dismiss it since they don't speak. They communicate other ways. Just watch the expressions a dog or horse makes. Watch their body language. We have to learn to read their language to understand them and learn to communicate it theirs for them to understand and trust us. That is true for both horses and dogs.

Thanks for all the nice comments and the interesting stories!
Seems we have a lot of horse lovers here :-)

If you're going to San Francisco.
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.

Steve Thomas

Right on brother. Steve, you must live with your camera around you neck or just be plain lucky.

This is the only horse that lives near me.

His name is Cowboy, and as I understand it, he is a championship cutting horse

Steve Thomas

I am enjoying the nice sunny balmy weather today.
How's your day going?

Steve Thomas