Why I Chose to Shoot in Monochrome That Day

(This post continues a story from a photo I shared earlier.)

There’s a song I’ve always liked called In Color by Jamey Johnson. He repeats the same line throughout the song, but it didn’t really hit me until I watched the video all the way through. Seeing those old photos in monochrome, and then watching the color slowly come in near the end, made the meaning land differently for me.

“A picture’s worth a thousand words,
But you can’t see what those shades of gray keep covered…
You should’ve seen it in color.”

That line came back to me when I took the photo of my wife holding our grandson.

I had the camera set to monochrome that day. I wasn’t trying to be artistic or make a statement — I just liked how it slowed things down and let me focus on the moment instead of distractions. The shapes, the expressions, the connection. Sometimes black and white helps you see what matters most.

And the photo turned out exactly how I hoped. Quiet. Simple. Timeless.

But the truth is — if people think that image says a lot in black and white, they should’ve seen it in color.

It was a hot July day. Family everywhere. Food cooking. Friends talking. Life moving all around us. And right there in the middle of it was this moment — grandma holding her grandson with a kind of calm and love that didn’t need words.

The monochrome version tells part of the story.
It shows the feeling.

But the color that day — the warmth, the life, the energy — that’s something the camera can’t fully hold onto.

That moment wasn’t just something I photographed.
It was something I got to witness.

And every time I look at that picture, I hear that line again.

A picture may be worth a thousand words.
But some moments are bigger than the photo.

Time has moved on, but this moment hasn’t.

That’s enough.