"When you photograph people in color, you are photographing their clothes. When you photograph them in B&W, you photograph their souls." -Ted Grant


I would have to agree with Grant in that there is a certain soulfulness associated with B&W photography. But the key for this post will be to identify what soulfulness means. Grant insinuates what color does to a photograph: it distracts. While I imagine you could photograph someone's soul in color, I think it would not come as easily as with B&W. In black and white photography, the photographer tones down the visual noise by omitting color. Instead of relying upon color, a black and white photographer manipulates shape, form and shadows to achieve their vision. By removing colorful visual clutter, the photographer leaves the viewer with the essential, or essence, of the photographic subject. The connections between essential, essence and soul are the key to understanding Grant's quote: the soul is the essential part of a being, it is one's esence, what's leftover after the superfluous is removed.