Color or B&W film
O.k. let's talk film. There is no way you have looked into film photography and not noticed that there seems to be if not a divide, definitely different camps on whether it’s best to shoot color film or Black and white film.
This is my opinion: It only matters what you want to shoot, but in reality, it will be more along the lines of what you have access to. That means cost and actually being able to get it.
That said, here is what YOU should consider:
1. What type of subjects are you shooting?
2. Location, location, location!
3. Lighting (natural, flash, and other).
Best way to do this? Look up the photographs/ photographers who's work you admire, and this is just for starter, you will develop your own look as you go along. Many times, the images will have shooting information attached either by the photographer or medium it is on (website, books, etc). Once you have this info, you will pretty much have the film stock (brand and ISO) and technique. Once you know this, then you can plan your location, lighting, and arrange and/or decide on your subject(s).
But why is there always someone who insists on color or black & white?
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1. Tradition. Many niches had their own type of film stock. Many people learned that tradition and will defend it to the death. As that film stock is what people were used to seeing when looking at this niche, it just stuck.
2. Availability. There will always be film stock you just cannot get. It may be the cost, it may be limited amounts, but there is some film you just can't get. This makes the stock either ignored or the most sought-after collector’s item of the year.
3. Ego…or personal preference. Some people will tell you that one film stock is absolutely perfect, and nothing will ever compare. Some people just like the way a film stock handles under certain circumstances.
4. Just because.
Both color and black & white film stocks have many different ways to utilize them. But when we look back at the artistry of the ‘early’ photographers who shaped photography as an art and a trade, they were using black & white film stock. Even before there was 35mm film stock available. Many of the ‘best practices’ of photography where therefore based on black and white. Storytelling, documentary, even fashion was done on black & white film. It is a format that makes you pay attention to shape, light and texture predominately.
Color was seen as vulgar at worst and cheating at best. For a while color was considered only for amateurs and snapshots. But as color film technology was advanced more and more, that view changed for many-not all, but many.
Today, there are still different views in different camps, depending on the subject matter, but ultimately it comes down to what works for you.
In case of further doubt, look up Saul Leiter. A professional photographer, who specialized like other professionals at the time, in black & white. HOWEVER, he also used expired color film stocks for his own creative work, and it was a game changer when it was discovered later in Leiter’s life. Saul Liter is a legend, and his work still inspires today, but he is a great example of someone who can utilized the photographic medium, in any format.
So, final words. Just shoot what you have and what you can find in color or black & white. It may be drug store brands, yes, there are still some, or specialty brands from the Internet. There are a ton out there to play with. Learn different stocks and how they look with your subject matter. When you find a film stock you like, keep using it and push the capabilities as your skills and creativity grow.
