Black and White By Jamie Kirkpatrick

There’s not much that’s just black and white in the world these days. Everything is either nuanced shades of gray, or, more likely, layer upon layer of color, bright or muted, shiny or subtle. Simplicity is out, complexity is in, and for some people—people like me—that can pose a problem. You see, I like to keep things simple, straightforward. Give me two options, and I’ll choose one without much difficulty. But if you give me three, four, or more options, the variables start to kick in, and then just watch me wallow in the muck of indecision.

The holidays don’t help, especially in a year when Thanksgiving falls late on the calendar and suddenly, we’re all in a pre-Christmas panic. Just at that moment in the year when the days are drained of color and we should all be taking a long winter’s nap, suddenly, we’re thrust into a gathering storm of decorating and shopping and merry-making that makes my head spin. Makes me wonder…

…Maybe in some past life, I was a Shaker. The Shakers were (and in one small village in Maine, still are) a Protestant Christian sect that originated in England in mid-1700s. Shakers believe in a second coming of Christ, and on creating a working heaven here on earth. They practice temporal and spiritual simplicity, pacifism, and perfection in all aspects of life. We know the Shakers best through their music, through one song in particular, “Simple Gifts:”

Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,

‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain’d,

To bow and to bend we will not be asham’d,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

A core tenet of Shaker belief is that earthly satisfaction can not be obtained through the acquisition of power or wealth. Rather, true satisfaction can only be obtained through humility and freedom from worldly goods. Try selling that notion to the marketing gurus who came up with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

Shakers are celibate; they do not marry. Although Shakers do believe in gender equality, they must rely on converts to populate their dwindling numbers. To the best of my knowledge, the tiny village of Sabbathday Lake, Maine is the last surviving Shaker community, a sad testament to the demise of true simplicity in today’s culture.

But back to black and white and all the subtle shades of gray in between. As much as I love color photography, there is an austere beauty in a world reduced to two tones. Color can dazzle me, but black and white images stimulate my curiosity and my imagination. I truly believe I see more by seeing less.

As we rush headlong into the December holidays, I’m going to try my best to see more by seeing less. I’m going to try and keep things simple. I’m sure I’ll stumble, but maybe, just maybe, in some unexpected, quiet moment, I’ll find myself in a place just right.

I’ll be right back.

Jamie Kirkpatrick is a writer and photographer who lives in Chestertown. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Washington College Alumni Magazine, and American Cowboy Magazine. His new novel, “The Tales of Bismuth; Dispatches from Palestine, 1945-1948” explores the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It is available on Amazon.