Going black & white turns photo into art

The Herald's photojournalists pride themselves on vivid, colorful, newsy photography every day. And they almost always produce images worth framing -- sheer art.

Tiffany Tompkins-Condie's Monday Gallery feature is a great example of such work, and of the extra thought and planning that requires. She was assigned to shoot Manatee School for the Arts' dress rehearsal of "West Side Story," to accompany education reporter Chris Hawes' story on the teacher's successful effort to infuse ethnic authenticity into the production.

From that shoot came this wonderful image, which Tiffany converted to black and white to fit the era of the setting better. Just as she describes the actors in her blog post "Through the Lens: Play it cool," Tiffany also captures that "cool-cat style" and "athletic grace."

Thanks for taking us back in time, Tiff.