Everything I write here is based on photos, if photography didn't exist, I wouldn't exist... here!

I'm not a professional photographer, even a skilled one, and I don't have special cameras or lenses. My photography supports the stories I tell and is, most importantly, a great memory aid.

Fortunately, I have a good visual memory. With a single photograph taken, who knows when I can reconstruct the context and the event? This helps me to recall places and events, each with its own story.

So far many words when I want to say this: I don't have photos technically and artistically well done, but I hope to have suggestive of the subject I want to develop in a blog.

I recently read a blog by @daveks which refers to a community for those who love photography in its two main aspects, black and white and color: Random Friday

Because I also love photography in this dual way and to get to black and white I start with color, I will try to write something about it.

The sunflower that lost its color

For my first attempt at this duality, color - no color, I chose the sunflower, a flower that I thought would lose much of its beauty if stripped of its golden color.

When I saw these two versions of the photo, in black and white and color, I was surprised by the difference between them.

Moreover, I was faced with a dilemma. Which one do I like better? It was hard to choose even though I had started with the prejudice that the most spectacular photos would be the color ones in this case!

Trying to decide what to choose, I chose several of these dual shots...

Of course, the golden yellow of this flower is an immediate eye-catcher.

Still, I couldn't take my eyes off the black-and-white versions.

I had such a strange feeling and a thrill looking at the pairs of photos, a thrill I didn't expect, and a growing conviction that the black-and-white version was much more expressive.

Until then this belief of mine seems to be a blasphemy to the representations on the earth of the almighty and life-giving sun!

The dilemma remains and I can't decide what I like more, and hope to get more than one opinion on this if there is more than one viewer.

Let's kill the dilemma!

I rely mostly on photos in all my blogs. Words don't help me as much as photos.

_{I always start with photos when I want to write a blog. Photos remind me of places, events, and feelings that turn into words.}

_{I make this statement as a plea to those reading not to over-judge the text and to focus on the photos.}

_{A wise saying goes that a photograph is worth a thousand words, but I don't think so.
It depends on the viewer.}

I'm watching you!!