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Feel guilty just appreciating the artistic beauty of the photos due to the darkness in them.

Hope you can return in a few weeks with another collection, this time showing a much happier tone and signifying Japanese resilience.

I'm sorry but I don't think B&W photos should be taken of this catastrophe - whilst it may emphasise the tragedy of the situation I personally think we should avoid the 'artistic' view of this nightmare unfolding before us.

B&W allows the photographer to show real emotion. Surrounded as we are with 24/7 constant streaming media 'comment', its these photographs that will stand the test of time, and help to record such a momentious event in history. I believe its better to have an artistic emotional view of tragedy than a colour snapshop that is so superficial and forgotten in monents.

Strange, how monochrome can give a clearer impression than colour of some situations, I appreciate the oppressive, otherness of these pictures in conveying the scale of the disaster.

I must argue against Seanlookalike's comment.

The many news reports on this tragedy have shown in video-graphic voyeuristic detail the Tsunami, earthquake and aftermath with the cold precision of mobile phone cameras. Jake Price's work has captured the human feelings of this trauma allowing the viewer to empathise with those suffering.

Jake's work is art, because it makes you feel. What is wrong in being 'artistic' to make viewers feel?

Who would not feel even a slight twinge at the "Napalm Girl" picture today?

Why did my mother have to turn away from the Auschwitz museum when she saw the children's shoes?

Black-and-white images are not inherently more 'artistic' than those in colour. That's just silly.

I don't think it matters much whether the images are mono or colour, as long as they are good, well-crafted images. I don't think any of these are particularly good, and underexposing the prints in mono to give them a more dramatic look doesn't change this.

Being a photographer I actually find these shots too dark. That of course might not be the photographers fault. Also Black and White photography is in itself not 'arty'.

What motivates a photographer to record human suffering? There are many beautiful sights in Japan that would make equally good photographs, instead of pictures of the loss and destruction.

These pictures make me feel very morally ambiguous: while it can be argued that a news team that is reporting an incident are just doing their job, when it comes to freelance photographers that descend like vultures, and who will benefit (either financially, or from acquiring a portfolio that leads to other commissions) from other's misfortune, is it right that we applaud their work as "art"?

Do we even need to record such events in an "artistic" manner at all? Does doing that somehow remove us from really feeling empathy with the victims?

Why do you need art to "feel"? Weren't the news pictures bad enough?

We don't see in B&W, we see in colour. B&W is thus yet one more step away from reality, from being there, from feeling.

It doesn't matter how well-taken these photographs are, they still leave a rather sour taste in my mouth. And a sadness in my heart, that others always seek to profit from misery.

B&W is supposed to allow you to focus on the detail and content of the image. These are just too dark to appreciate anything. I think they are poor for a professional.

How do we define photography as a profession? Photography can be interpreted in many ways just the same as paintings and drawings. For most of the folks commenting here there were feelings created by the images however small or large. So to be honest Jake has given us something we never had before - memories of the tragedy in Japan from a different point of view.

I agree that these pictures are upsetting. But they also draw attention to the tragedy and provide a moving record. I too hope that we will see pictures that show a more cheerful side but appreciate both the art and the suffering shown here. Excellent.

B&W is the purest form of journalistic and documentary photography. It allows us to see straight through to the heart of the matter. I'd like to thank Mr. Price for documenting this tragedy so we may never forget.

"When you photograph people in colour you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in B&W, you photograph their souls!" ~Ted Grant.

I agree a little with Robert, in that I find these a little too dark. However I still think they hold a great value and power.
Just because an image is in monochrome, doesn't mean it should instantly be read as "arty". I think that's a huge misconception.
And perhaps with this Ted Grant quote in mind, capturing the tragedy in black & white may enable the photographer to capture the heart and soul of Japan at this time, too?

I also find these images very poor. Good B&W can be incredibly atmospheric --- see www.shorpy.com most days. But these images fail to convey very much at all. As others have said, they're so murky and underexposed that its difficult to make out much of what's happening. If we weren't told that they had been taken after a devastating tsunami in the middle of a bitter Japanese Winter, I'd have said they were shot in a corner of a Californian scrap yard.

I've looked long and hard but these images convey nothing of the tragedy and contain no beauty either.

It seems like the forest is being lost for the trees, as we debate the artistic validity of B&W photography. These photographs are simply one Western photo-journalist's perspective on a large-scale disaster and the ongoing affects on the Japanese civilians -their resiliency, their emotional confusion, their ability to cope and make sense of their world now, post-disaster. To Judge the art is almost funny; if you're judging the art, you're missing the point.

I don't think these images are particularly good. Nothing against the photographer, but parachute journalism quite often yields ordinary results.
Having said that, the western media have largely ignored the fallout from the quake so it is important that people are there to tell the story regardless.