I've been wondering...

I came into large format photography as colour photographer having previously used a digital SLR. I did so as I was generally disappointed with the quality of digital. I was also inspired by the likes of Joe Cornish, having seen his gallery prints I knew I had to go LF.

Recently though I've started to consider shooting in black and white and I'm also considering processing the film myself. I know that many (most?) LF photographers shoot mainly in black and white (having seen many fine examples on this forum) – my question is; is black and white a natural progression when shooting LF? I'd never considered B/W before, why now? Is it something to do with the methodological nature of taking a LF photo, is it that the quality of the prints that makes it more 'art' than lesser formats, desire to control the whole process or is it the unconscious need to follow in Ansel's footsteps (maybe not literally)??

Ha - that knock at the door means my Lee B/W filter set have arrived ...