This was recently posted on the rec.photo.darkroom newsgroup. It met with very e nthusiastic response there, so with the author's permission, I would like to rep ost it to the forum here.

From what I've read here recently, it seems that a lot of photographic companies have drastically reduced their commitment to black & white products. Most photo graphy is done in color, and black & white has survived mainly as an art medium. It looks like black & white photography as it exists right now might disappear altogether as companies decide that it is no longer cost-efficient to produce pr oducts for black & white photographers.

I would like to start a discussion about this topic to find out what other peopl e's take on this issue is. Do you think that black & white photography is going to disappear? If so, why, and if not, why not? If it does disappear, what will b e the alternatives for people who still want to shoot in black & white?

-- Scott Daniel Ullman

sdullman@i_hate_spam.stanford.ude

(Remove "i_hate_spam" and change "ude" to "edu" to send e-mail.)