Closed for Business

Jones Grocery Store, long closed for business, is located in the Township of Lewisville, North Carolina, on Shallowford Road in the western portion of Forsyth County.

When Bold Colors Seem Distracting

If you’ve been following this blog for a little while, you’ve no doubt noticed my penchant for using bold colors in my photos, even perhaps to the point of over-saturation. I just love causing color to erupt whenever it appears bashful and unappreciated! (And this probably won’t be the last time I confess that weakness.)

From the outset, though, today’s photo of Jones Grocery Store was resistant to some of my usual color techniques. I wanted to make the photo “bold and beautiful.” I wanted to make its colors almost jump off the screen. But that was not to be.

I hadn’t encountered this difficulty with the previous post, Country Store, where the store was shown in the distance. But now, having moved closer to the building, which made the store’s age more evident, I found that attempting to apply a bold color treatment seemed out of character with the store. Even the blog post title itself, “Closed for Business,” seemed at odds with my regular color treatment.

Finding a Solution

Thus, instead of loud, saturated colors, the scene insisted on a quiet nostalgia. And to achieve that, a rendering close to monochromatic — with mostly washed-out colors — was called for. I was horrified! No, no — just kidding!

To read more about the challenge of using color — and to see some additional photo options of this scene — please continue to the NEXT SECTION.

Speaking of Color

I’ve long admired the work of photojournalist, Mary Ellen Mark, who has worked primarily in black and white photography throughout her career. Her work has taken her into many different cultural situations around the world. Among her projects is her series from many years spent in India when she documented Mother Teresa and the hardships faced by India’s outcasts.

Regarding the challenge that color can present in our quest to make photographic statements, Ms. Mark shares:

The difficulty with color is to go beyond the fact that it’s color — to have it be not just a colorful picture but really be a picture about something. It’s difficult. So often color gets caught up in color, and it becomes merely decorative. Some photographers use [it] brilliantly to make visual statements combining color and content; otherwise, it is empty. — Mary Ellen Mark

That seems to have been the challenge with today’s photo — the brilliant colors I had wanted to employ actually detracted from the subject. Or at least that’s how it seemed to me.

I’ve provided below a black-and-white version and a full-color version of the scene for your review. All three photos are quite distinct from each other. Do you think I selected the best treatment for the main photo above?

Photo #2

Photo #2 – Jones Grocery Store in the Township of Lewisville, North Carolina.

Photo #3

Photo #3 – Jones Grocery Store in the Township of Lewisville, North Carolina.

Your Thoughts

What do you think? Did I pick the best image to represent this particular view of Jones Grocery Store? Please share your thoughts in the Comments box below.

Photo Gallery

We’ll definitely be stopping by Jones Grocery Store again in the future. But for now, you can visit the Jones Grocery Store photo gallery to review the store’s current collection of photos.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also enjoy the other Jones Grocery Store blog posts featured on this website.