Not Salala or Muscat 1975

a lesson in color palettes.

Magnum photographers rarely use color film. In their best of 2023 images, half are black and white. Of the 30 photographers who have work from the 1970’s only 5 seem to have submitted work in color. Even those photographers work mostly in black and white. When you look at all of the photos, sorted by “rating”, the first color photos shows up several hundred images in.

Rene Burri has 137 photos from the 1970’s. The half that are in color have a restricted palette. So wonderfully theater-y! He found the color scheme of a place, and only chose photos that conveyed a clear color scheme. For example, Oman.

All of the aerial images are in color. Some of the photos are clearly about the shape and the topography. As in, ‘look, this is the shape of this place and where it is in relation to the ocean’. But I think the equally salient impression that the photographer is trying to convey is, ‘look, that is the color scheme of this place’.

Sometimes the colors of the buildings match the color of the …