I always loved b&w photography, and converting digital images to shades of grey is a lot of fun. It helped me understand tonal values a little better. But, relying on b&w as a default solution was turning me into a lazy photographer, and for that reason, I decided to only work in b&w using film.

Just like working with different focal lengths is teaching me to pre-visualise a scene, I think that intentionally shooting b&w using film is going to help me later on. That said, one thing I recently discovered is that when it comes to portraiture, b&w is excellent at softening edges and skin textures, which in most cases takes more tweaking when editing a digital file.

Looking at this set of images I shot of Cortney with my electronic SLR; I'm once again reminded how peaceful a facial expression appears on film. As we live in an image-saturated environment, and gain access to equipment that instantly creates high-quality imagery, it's very challenging to make work that anchors the viewer's attention; and as a result, most of us are increasingly becoming desensitized to natural beauty.

So, for me, pursuing b&w photography only with film from now on, not only will slow me down to help me see clearer; I think it will also add more profound meaning to my photographic decisions, and if that's the case, then carrying two camera bodies is well worth the extra weight.