I love shooting black and white actually because of how different it is from the way my own eyes perceive the world in color - it disrupts the way I see the world and I think that is really positive, creatively.
I shoot black and white digital (I used to shoot film) I find that in black and white I pay attention to color more. You also have to be more careful, you can't use color alone to isolate your subjects. Complex textures get lost in each other, making your photo busy or muddy. It makes you focus on removing things from your photos. You also have more options in exposure. You don't have to worry about washing out the contrast between colors. I can shoot both darker and lighter screens in black and white than I can in color.
You never outgrow black and white. Black and white photography allows you to see the world in raw. Your imagination creates colors from contrasting shadows and highlights. B&W evokes emotions and tells a story all on its own.
Two reasons why I shoot black and white that were not mentioned are, a) well processed traditional b&w film -not C41 b&w- is about as permanent a record as we can leave for the future (a plus versus digital because are digital files forever?); and b) I have very poor color vision and can’t trust my eyes to process any “fine art” color work. Since the 1970s I have used b&w for “serious” work. I have used color, mainly positive film for travel and C41 color for silly stuff. One note is that except for Kodachrome, lots of the older E6 and C41 have faded a bit.
I mostly shoot black and white. I love the flexibility of HP5 and FP4 in both shooting and processing. I’ll even shoot a lot of black and white on digital too. I like the way B&W can highlight your subject a lot easier in a some situations, I like the way it makes. Me think more about textures and how the light interacts rather than just the colours
Looooved the original Fuji Acros, just couldn't go wrong with the stuff. Even shot it in a Holga 120N and would just make the best photos regardless of camera I used. I still need to get around to trying the new stuff. Cost was keeping me away, but now that prices on everything else have spiked the cost gap has started to close on it. Still higher, but if it acts like the original might be worth it because, as you stated it's basically an "Easy Button". Also, with the right developer (it's ADOX Silvermax), Kodak 2238 is basically a low ISO version of Acros. And I'm happy to have a hoard of that stuff for the years to come. lol
I love that I have learned to develop my own bw at home. I shoot bw film to have fun and enjoy taking pictures, not overthinking lime I tend to do with color film. I really have no fave bw film, but weird low iso stuff gets me to load my camera and experiment with it. I do love ilford pan f plus tho.
