Simply Black And White

HOW SCOTT HOYLE CREATES HIS UNCOMPLICATED MONOCHROMATIC DESIGNS

- Jack Neubart

WHEN HE GRADUATED WITH A BFA FROM KENDALL COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, Scott Hoyle would have been very happy purely pursuing a career in graphic design and illustration. But along the way, something happened. In his senior year, he’d borrowed a camera from a classmate, entered a photo contest—and won a Mamiya Sekor SLR. While this event did not alter the course of his job history, the camera did provide him with material on which he based his illustration and graphic design work. And, whereas photography continued to play a role throughout his life, it wasn’t till he retired that he pursued it with a passion. Over the years he’d transition from film to digital. But the move to black and white was more sudden.

SEEING IN MONOCHROME 

Hoyle was initially intimidated by black and white. He had launched his photographic career by winning photo competitions and organizing showings of his work—but that focused entirely on the color image. It was at one of these one-man shows that gallery visitors criticized him for a lack of black-and-white imagery. That was the spark he’d needed to ignite a continuing passion for the monochrome image. With a firm grasp of photographic composition already in hand, what he needed now was to find a toehold in black and white. That came when he discovered Black & White magazine.

“My mouth started watering about being featured in this magazine,” Hoyle recalls. “So I took it as a challenge to start shooting black and white.” Before long, Hoyle found his images featured on the pages of this prestigious publication, as well as on two special-edition covers back to back.