Black and White

When Munich-based photographer Christopher Thomas looks at contemporary photos of cities, he longs to see the landscape without city traffic. “I miss the pureness of images from 100 years ago, where you could see the architecture without cars and pedestrians,” he says.

Back in the film days, photographers had to learn through trial and error how to see the world in tones of gray rather than colors—pre-visualization. Black-and-white shooters would eventually build up an arsenal of specialty red, yellow, orange, green, and blue filters to help them alter the colors in a scene to specific tones of gray.