Color just isn't doing it for me anymore...

[BLKRCAT]

I was thinking about this today while on my usual walk. Color film just doesn't tickle me the same as black and white does. Everything Ive shot in the last few months has been almost exclusively black and white.

I guess the color stuff I find that maybe the color in the scene just isnt the way I want it or that maybe there is the slight inconvenience of shooting color compared to bw for me.

Either way, I would rather shoot BW 9/10. Does any one else feel this way?

 

[Takkun]

Same. When I was doing journalism and some commercial work, it wasn't really an option, except when I'd get to work with a band that liked the BW look--and even then I shot it more to mitigate color balance issues in poorly lit clubs.
While I wouldn't say I enjoy processing and scanning film myself, the cost and convenience is worthwhile, since the nearest pro lab is north of downtown and charges $15 a roll.
Aside from that, I'm mildly colorblind, and I always learned to think in tones rather than colors. It's less distracting to me. And there's the issue of tonality and grain and the like--I never really found a film that really jazzed me with colors and tones I liked. Digital, however, has gotten to a point that I am really starting to like what I see coming from my Fuji.
But I still come back to BW. I think what it comes down to is that, unlike a painter or illustrator, a photographer does not have much control over the relationships of the colors themselves outside the studio. If you've got bland colors or bland light, there's not much you can do. Or, if there is, I haven't the slightest clue how to master it.

Then there's also that level of abstraction BW lends to an otherwise representational medium.

 

[Griffin]

I have a hard time shooting b&w. I like what others do in b&w but for me, I need color. Color floats my boat.

 

[konicaman]

I know what you mean; today I went for a stroll today - I usually carry a digital for colour and a film camera for B/W - today I had a FED 2 for film, but it is a new camera and I do testing using colour film (only soup B/W every couple of months). It was a frustrating feeling not being able to shoot B/W (I only use film for B/W - converting never gets the right look, IMHO at least). My digicams see less and less use as my colour shooting often ends up looking postcard-like to me.

 

[PointOmega]

I was thinking about this today while on my usual walk. Color film just doesn't tickle me the same as black and white does. Everything Ive shot in the last few months has been almost exclusively black and white.

I guess the color stuff I find that maybe the color in the scene just isnt the way I want it or that maybe there is the slight inconvenience of shooting color compared to bw for me.

Either way, I would rather shoot BW 9/10. Does any one else feel this way?

Funny I find myself going the other way, at least for a little while. Shot Portra 160 on my old MF camera for the first time last month and was blown away by the results. So much more character than digital, but perhaps it's just the lens or my imagination.

 

[furbs]

I like color film, and have a bunch in the freezer, but feel like it'll be there for a while. Everything I've shot for the past few months has been black and white. My b/w compositions always seem to match my intent more frequently than my color ones, though color film does consistently surprise me.

 

[thegman]

I come and go, I shot maybe 6 rolls in San Francisco a month ago, all BW, then in Hawaii, I shot all colour, a lot of Velvia. Some subjects work for me in BW and some not.