© Steve Keegan 2014, All Rights Reserved

I was recently nomintated to take part in the Black & White Photo Challenge by my old college friend Aaron Suozzi from San Jose State University. Basically, I have to post one black & white photo for five days in a celebration of black & white photography, and then I have to nominate another photographer to take part each day. As an added challenge to me, he stipulated that none of the images I show can be from a wedding. So here is my Day 1 offering. It is a picture of my son Daniel. This is one of my favorite candid moments of him playing with the hood to one of my lenses when he was about one year old. I absolutely love his sweet little face framed by the hood opening with the drool running down his chin. He's such a little character. Already a big fan of telling jokes—just like his daddy.

For my first nomination, I nominate my good friend John Stubler. Stubler and I were both groomsmen in each other's weddings and attended San Jose State's photojournalism program as well.

Do you like black & white photography? I typically err on the side of giving you your images in color because you can always turn a color image into a black & white one later, but you can't have it the other way around. However, converting an image to black & white can help a picture out—especially if there are distracting, brightly-colored objects in the background or if the color temerature in the room is mixed or wonky. Black & white also give a classic, timeless feel to your wedding images. I would strongly suggest playing around with converting your images to black & white once you get your master images from me. Don't forget to pump up the contrast! Black & white images that were converted from color can look flat unless you pump it up!