There has long been a debate on whether black and white or color photography is better. Many love black and white for its ability to separate viewers from the subject and its ability to reduce the photo to its compositional elements. Y’all are wrong. 😉

Here’s a famous photo by Dorothea Lange, taken in July 1939 at an old country store in Gordonton, North Carolina. A second shot in the set was colorized, bringing the scene to life. I have been unable to find the name of the person who colorized it, but they did a great job. With all due respect to Ms. Lange’s original, the color version stands supreme.

As a side note, I’ve come across versions of the Black and White original to which Getty Photos has garishly and illegally claimed rights via their logo. If you see it, tell Getty to kiss my ass. This is NOT a Getty photo. Ms. Lange’s photos at the time were taken for the Farm Security Administration of the U.S. government, as and such are in the Public Domain. Likewise, derivative works are in the public domain, and thus my having made no attempt to give credit to anyone but Ms. Lange.

Photo hoarders like Getty love to claim rights to old photos. Please don’t be fooled.