Black and white photography is often seen as both the genesis of the art and its most pure form. I don’t think that is always true, but there is something about monochromatic pictures that focus attention on form and composition. It is also great at handling contrast and can render deep shadows and brilliant highlights. In the heyday of film this was achieved through careful control of exposure and development — a process that lended itself to sheet film that could be exposed and developed individually. Today, with few exceptions, all digital captures are in colour, but there is excellent software available for the visual conversion to black and white and, given the dynamic range of many printers, wide tonal ranges are possible.