Colour or Black & White?

As an East Yorkshire Wedding Photographer I shoot 100% digitally. Technology has come so far since I first started experimenting with this way of capturing weddings and I can now say that I would be surprised if I ever shot another frame of old school film. Don't get me wrong, I am really grateful for learning my trade with film as that medium makes you think and consider each and every time before you press the shutter on the camera and also gives you a deep understanding of exposure. However, digital gives me the freedom to shoot weddings exactly as I want to. I don't have to worry about changing film stock to match the light conditions and I don't have to consider if an image should be shot on colour or black and white film - I now have the ultimate choice!

I show at least 25% of a wedding collection in black and white and I do notice that my clients really gravitate to this. There's something about stripping out colour as a visual reference that makes us zone in to the story and content of an image without other visual indicators.

I particularly like photojournalistic images in black and white, they have 'grit & punch' and can be really endearing. Capturing moments at a wedding and then stripping them down to their bare essentials is a really effective story telling vehicle - and to me that's what wedding photography is all about - telling stories.

What do you prefer? Would love to hear your comments.