Well, if you know me at all you know I love black and white. Alaska was kind to me and I have a range of shots in black and white from my five days there. Here are my top 10 favorites.

It seems I'm moving more and more into black and white treatments lately. There's something about the simplicity and mood of black and white that I really just love. Sure there are some things that cannot and should not have the color stripped from them, but in general, I'm just... so happy with black and white. To the point that I'm almost starting to get the appeal of the Leica M Monochom. Not that I'd ever lay down $8,000 for a camera that only shoots black and white, but if I were handed one for free, I think it'd see quite a bit of use.

I have a serious addiction: Jellyfish photos. While I like all varieties of jellies, it's sea nettles for which I have a special fondness. I could stand for hours on end in front of a tank and watch sea nettles glide, tumble, and swirl across the glass. And if I have a camera with a 50 mm lens in my hand, that's a version of heaven I'll take. I have a notion to do a whole study on sea nettles. I love the color versions, don't get me wrong, but I also love to turn these in to black and white images. A lot.

Sometimes they seem like they are antiques, taken in the early 1900s:

While at other times they seem modern, taken by an X-Ray machine:

Either way, there is something ghostly about them that I adore. Here are a handful and you can check out more of these images in a set I started on Flickr.

With the spectacular colors of Midway, it's hard to find the right shots to convert to my beloved black and white. There are such vivid blues, greens and whites, and the contrasts of the bright colors are amazing. It was lucky that we had a few cloudy days so that it wasn't quite as hard or heartbreaking to decide which work best without color. I have such an affinity for the simplicity and focus on texture that black and white lends, so I was glad to come away with a handful of scenes and portraits that work well for it. More can be viewed on the Midway Flickr set.