I have been interested in photography since the late 1970's. My first camera was a Canon AE-1 Program. I shot mostly color slides back then, but I quickly became very interested in black and white photography. During the late 1970's and early 1980's I set up a black and white darkroom and began trying to learn about the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams.

I purchased a Mamiya 645 Medium Format camera which I began using for most of my black and white work. ( I could not afford nor did I have room for a large format system)

Even though I never came anywhere close to mastering the "zone system" it was fun trying to emulate the styles and techniques of some of the early 20th century masters of photography. (Stieglitz, Cartier-Bresson, Weston, Lange, Adams, and Evans to name just a few). You can't help but take away some valuable insights by just studying their volumes of work!!

In my opinion If you want to get better at your craft, you need to study those who came before! What they were able to achieve without the use of PS or LR is incredible to say the least.

To this day I still prefer black and white imagery over color for its emphasis on shape and form. Sometimes the absence of color makes an image much more powerful, while emphasizing a classic quality.

I often wonder if the old 20th century masters of photography would embrace today's digital image technology. I have a feeling that most of them would!

Happy Shooting!

PS - (Even though I like black and white the best, I still often shoot color images)