Why Winter is Made for Black & White Photography in Olinda
Olinda, Mt Dandenong – July photo walk Loop
I’ve been quietly sitting, waiting for the leaves to drop, waiting for the last colour to drain from the trees and fade to grey. It’s happened now. Winter is here and with it comes the kind of deep, stirring quiet that makes you want to walk slower, breathe deeper, and see the world differently.
Have you ever noticed how sound carries further in the cold? Or how mist doesn’t just sit in the trees, it becomes part of them? It’s a strange kind of clarity in the fog, as if everything unnecessary has been stripped away.
In summertime, your eyes are darting, flooded by light, colour and all of the distraction. But in winter? Winter asks you to look again. It offers a stillness that opens space to actually see.
And that’s where black & white photography comes in.
There’s something almost sacred about loading a roll of Ilford HP5+ in weather like this, or flicking your digital camera into monochrome and walking headlong into the cloud line.
Here in Olinda, Mt Dandenong, we’re lucky. The mountain holds onto weather like a secret. Fog drifts between the gums. Ferns gather condensation like memories. The roads, always slick, wind like quiet thoughts. And when you photograph it in black & white? The mood deepens. The story shifts. Colour would almost be a distraction.
Without colour, there’s no cheat code for beauty. You’re working with light, shade, form and endless amounts of emotion. You’re building photographs that don’t just look good, they feel like something. Texture becomes the subject. Shadows speak louder and maybe, if you let yourself slow down enough, you’ll hear what the forest is trying to say.
So, how about it?
If you’re looking for things to do in Olinda this Winter, why not join us for our Free Loop Photo Walk on Sunday July 6th?
Meet everyone at Loop Art & Photo Space in Olinda, wander down into the forest for a quiet stroll (and a hot coffee at Storehouse Roastery), and come back up through the mountain village’s winding main street.
If that’s not enticing enough, we’ll even have a limited stash of Ilford HP5+ 35mm film rolls for you to use on the walk. And if you finish the roll on the day, we’ll give you members pricing on your dev & scan ($12 instead of $17).
Come walk. Come shoot. Come slow down with us.