I've always had ambivalent feelings about Black and White. I dislike the way that it is used by certain photographers to try to convey an "artistic" significance to their photographs. Also too often its used to disguise the ordinariness of a colour photograph. Converting a colour image to Black and White doesn't suddenly lift such images from the mundane to fine art.
Despite these misgivings there's no denying that a graphic monochrome image can be very effective.
David Bailey is reputed to have said - "Colour is for painters, black and white is for photographers" Thats not a statement I'd agree with, particularly with regard to landscape, which I've always felt is neutered in Black and White, however it can have a certain magic for the right subject.
