Color has become the preferred medium in amateur and professional photography, but, to my mind, nothing captures the essence of some subjects, carefully chosen by the photographer, like a well-composed black and white image.  It was where it all began, and in the hands of early craftsmen such as Matthew Brady, Life Magazines Margaret Bourke-White and Gordon Parks, as well as street photographer Cartier Bresson, the black and white photograph became the method of bringing vignettes of life from the posh to the mundane; and graphically portrayed the horrors of war long before they became a nightly event on the evening news.  A masterful black and white photograph is truly a "painting with light".