At 14 years of age, I knew that I was destined to be a fine art photographer… While hiking in Rochester, NY I stumbled across the ruin of an old home that George Eastman had once owned. This piqued my interest and I read his biography. I was fascinated with photography and before I had completed the book, before I had even taken a photograph or seen a print develop in the darkroom, I knew that I was going to be a photographer. For the next 10 years photography was my complete existence, if I wasn’t taking pictures or working in the darkroom, I was reading every book and looking at every image I could find. There was nothing in my life but photography. Even at this early age I found myself drawn to a particular style of image, one that would literally cause a physical reaction in me. They were dark images created by Adams, Weston, Bullock and others. I knew that I was destined to create such images. I am often asked, “Why black and white?” I think it’s because I grew up in a black-and-white world. Television, movies and the news were all in black and white. My heroes were in black and white and even the nation was segregated into black and white. My images are an extension of the world in which I grew up. For me color records the image, but black and white captures the feelings that lie beneath the surface. Cole Thompson (http://www.colethompsonphotography.com/about.htm) undefined

More on Google