Modern black and white

1st prize General News Stories
Balazs Gardi, Hungary, VII Network
The Valley, Operation Rock Avalanche, Afghanistan, October
Coming across this image at PopPhoto.com I was reminded of how great black and white photography can be. It seems that ever since things have gone to digital there has been very little in black and white photography coming out. Its gotten to the point were any black and white produced is almost automatically considered old or is art. What i love about this image is both the wide angle and the use of light to highlight some areas and silhouette others. I also enjoy the contrast in between the figures within the image. Finally with the one tree in the center of the figures it makes it seem that these people from different origins are coming together to for one common purpose. The message conveyed from this image would not be any clearer in color and would probably mean less. It is the light and shadows of this image that makes it so unique. It says that it is a dark land but there are rays of hope coming through.