Apologies for the lack of recent posts. Last week was a crazy busy one at work, which left me zero energy and time for blogging. Hopefully, normal service should now be resumed.
My last post on black and white outfits got me thinking about monochrome porn photographs. Sometimes the images started out that way, but more often than not it’s manipulation of a color image after the fact. You can find an lot of tumblr content like this – for example. Why is it such a popular style?
Part of the answer is that it obviously makes the image less porny and more arty. Mainstream black and white photography is often by artists, so it’s an easy manipulation to do to create that connection. Fashion advertisements occasionally use the same trick.
However, that doesn’t really answer why it’s such a popular thing to do. My guess is that color images feel like depictions of reality, where monochrome is more distanced and abstract, which makes fantasy projection easier. A detailed color image captures the world as it was, making me simply a distant observer. A monochrome image is more dreamlike, allowing me to imagine being part of the story.
Here’s a story I’d happily be part of. I’m not sure of the original source. I found it via tumblr.
Your final point is really interesting. I find the complete opposite. I am much more easily able to insert myself into the more realistic colour photographs, or to incorporate them into my fantasies.
Interesting. I wonder if differences here are related to how people mentally visualize things? Visual vs conceptual. I feel there’s a lot of potential PHDs in this kind of research area, if only people would fund them!
Thanks for sharing thoughts.
-paltego