The Black and White Photograph

An aesthetic that is important to me is the black and white photograph. They go with so many things and in so many places. Dramatic and stark, ideally they are also personal.

I follow a few guidelines:

• Use plain, narrow black frames so as not to distract from the photograph;
  
• Never mix them with color photographs;
  
• Group them in two's or four's, with identical frames, common sizes and themes, and hung in rows or columns;
  
• Keep them far away from direct sunlight.
  

Procuring good photographs can take a bit of work, however. I am lucky here in that I have archives of photographs taken and printed by my late father over five decades. Here are some he took, including of poet Robert Frost (the  cousin of my mother-in-law), the Port Clyde/Monhegan ferry landing, and in the last picture, photographer Edward Steichen.