because black and white photography existed in 1993 and still exists today and is often employed by artists to bring a certain level of subtlety, intimacy, distance, or many other interpretations to a piece
yes and, also, you can develop and print black and white film very easily yourself in fairly simple labs either at home or at schools, professional labs, etc. this is part of the artistry involved in shooting film. i was taught to do this in high school which for me was even slightly after the 90s. people still shoot film a lot as it gives you much more control over many aspects of image creation than digital, creates physical media instead of digital files, and isn’t limited by file size or resolution. there are still lots of film labs around
To make the connection with this last addition a bit more clear: up until the advent of digital photography, film had to be developed, which meant you had two options for getting your film from camera to photo:
1. Take it to someone else to get them developed. This person sees all the photos they’re developing for you. Asking the wrong person to develop photos of you with your partner is potentially life-ruining for someone in the closet.
2. Develop them yourself! For obvious reasons, many LGBTQ+ people chose this option, and black & white photography’s relative ease and accessibility made it popular in marginalized communities in general even after the advent of color photography.
I did darkroom photography during the 90s. I cannot tell you how many times I was asked to develop– or just take– photos that couldn’t go to the photomat.
Towards the end of the film era, the whole development process was automated, and often done without human involvement until the customer inspected the prints. Unfortunately, some genius got the idea of making the photos running through the drying process visible to anyone walking by the store. I know two different people who ended up showing their, ahem, private photos to an entire shopping mall.
also, b&w pictures were considered to be more ‘serious’
It’s also worth noting that I took photography classes in two separate colleges, and used both private and public darkrooms, and in ten years of doing that I saw ONE color enlarger, and only the seniors were allowed to touch it.
Everything about color photography, in terms of development and printing, was more complicated and hideously expensive. Which meant that most artists worked in Black and White. And we all insisted it was the better medium, we just never admitted WHY.
tbh shoutout to the over 40s on tumblr, sorry the internet acts like yall belong in the retirement home when ur literally just regular adults with hobbies
I was going to leave comments in the tags, but I decided this was important enough to put on main.
In college, my friend group collectively got into the SCA - Society for Creative Anachronism. They’re the people who get really into medieval reenactment, the fighting and crafts and cooking, they have kings and queens and knights and events and a good percentage of them (but not all!) work or have worked at Ren Faires.
I am forever grateful my friends dragged me into that, because it was my first introduction to fandom in older adults. Middle-aged dorks. Elderly nerds. Absolutely as intense and weird and hilarious and fun as any fan in their teens or 20s. I started getting into fandom already knowing there was a road ahead for me as I got older, full of handmade costumes and late night movies and shelves of pewter dragon goblets and mixed-aged road trips to meet ups and conventions.
And it kills me that so many people don’t know that sort of community even exists. On both sides, even! I went to Philcon a few years ago, which tends towards older fans, and an older woman I was talking to sadly told me that she thought fandom was dying out, because she never saw younger fans any more.
Over the past decade, there’s been a really toxic movement towards keeping different ages strictly separated, both in and outside of fandom. There’s this strong implication that if an older person wants to interact with a younger person, there is something inherently predatory about that.
Yeah, that attitude sucks. That drive towards separation and puritanism sucks. Declaring that younger people should have nothing to look forward to and that older people should stay separated and lonely sucks. It sucks and we are all worse for it.
Don’t fear age. Don’t put an age limit on having fun. Give yourself a damn future.
Beverly passed away in 2019, but she was one of many of my favorite, elder cosplayers that frequent DragonCon and remind all of us to keep playing as long as we can.
The argument that college campuses are opposed to free speech (because students protest bigots) began in the 1990s.
The argument was developed by far-right think tanks hostile to Civil Rights.
Many of the “senior fellows” employed by the think tanks spent the 1950s opposing Brown v. Board of Education, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Civil Rights Movement.
Today the talking point is mainstream, but its origin story is seldom identified, and has subsequently duped a great many people.
