Just as summer is fading in Vancouver I've started shooting a lot of black and white, perhaps in preparation for grey days ahead. After a marathon session of rolling out Arista 400 Premium, I started mixing them into the film I have in my bag. I reach into my bag and whatever I come out with, I load into the camera. The past three have come up B&W.

I've never put that much stock into shooting black and white as a creative decision but lately started thinking more about it. I originally started black and white because I was lead to believe it was easier than color. Now, I'm the biggest color C-41 home development pusher out there. Whenever I hear someone saying to avoid C-41 home development, I'm jumping on them. Yes, I'm that guy.

Anyway, what I mean is that I didn't have any particular affinity for black and white. But lately, I've been even desaturating my color a bit to see if I like that look. Some images are nice when you concentrate on the tone, shape and texture rather than on the bling of color.

That said, it is good throwing yourself into a new medium and trying to think about how that will change the way you shoot.

For example, black and white makes you concentrate on shadow.

And granularity and the defocus (bokeh).

When I finally return to color again (perhaps randomly with the next roll I pick out of my bag), I might think about how shooting in color is a decision in my composition. Maybe I will look for more patterns?