The Case for Monochrome

Black and white came first.

Before color, before digital, before Dogs on Paper — I took a darkroom class at UC Berkeley Extension in San Francisco in the late 1990s. I remember standing over the developing tray, watching an image slowly appear from paper and chemicals. It gave me goosebumps. I was hooked.

That feeling never left me.

Monochrome strips away everything but the essence of the dog. No coat color competing for attention, no background tone pulling the eye — just light, shadow, form, and expression. What remains is pure. It's photography at its most distilled.

There's also something timeless about a black and white portrait. Trends come and go, but monochrome never does. A portrait made today will feel just as resonant twenty years from now.

At Dogs on Paper, I shoot in both color and black and white. Every session yields images in color — but any portrait can be transformed into monochrome upon request. Some dogs seem to demand it. Others surprise you. Either way, the option is always there.

Color tells you what a dog looks like. Monochrome tells you who they are.

— Ann Burgermyer, Dogs on Paper