white

By Rose Palmer

A different Louvre Pyramid perspective You would probably be hard pressed to find a person that picks white as their favorite color. It’s easy to think of white as being colorless, but that really isn’t true. A clear glass of water has no color, and it is not white. And while a can of white paint is indeed pure in its lack of other hues, white light can be split into a colorful rainbow with a piece of prismatic glass.

In western culture, white has come to symbolize purity, innocence and peace and is commonly the color worn by brides at their wedding. However, in many Asian countries, white is associated with death, mourning and bad luck and is traditionally the color worn at funerals.

By itself, white is not very exciting. But next to other colors, it adds light and brightens up everything around it. The yellow center of a daisy is much more prominent surrounded by its white petals than a yellow center in a blue aster. Yet too much white can be sterile, unwelcoming and disorienting and can overwhelm the senses, much like trying to walk through a blizzard. White can also be a chameleon. Shine a red light on a white stage and suddenly, a boring space is infused with hot, passionate color. But the best foil for white is its total opposite, black, especially in photography. A photo that is only white, black and the grey shades in between emphasizes shape, texture and line and can create endless drama.

Photos (top-to-bottom): Local boys eating ice cream in Stone Town, Zanzibar; Kayaker in Glacier Bay National Park; Chihuly glass sculpture at Kew Gardens; Mural in Chicago; The London Eye

A dazzling dazzle of zebras

Camels in the Sahara