Ever since I put black and white film in my camera I’ve been kinda scared to use it… isn’t that silly?!
I think the main reason for this is that I associate B&W photos with a level of artistic-ness that I just don’t have.
In an attempt to get some ideas/confidence I bought a B&W photo magazine (was also facing a long train journey to somewhere), there were an awful lot of very interesting things in there, including information about photo holidays !
I’d love to go on one but they’re damn expensive.
There was also some info on ‘toy’ cameras, and how with a plastic lens camera costing less than £30 its possible to take some fairly decent ‘artsy’ photos…
for a short while I was very enthused (didn’t actually take any pictures but hey) and thought about getting a toy type camera for myself.
…… but then the realisation slowly dawned on me; It doesn’t matter what equipment you have or haven’t got, its not going to improve your photographic talent. I should stick with my current camera as its not holding me back in any way, and probably won’t for a long time.
What I really need to do is get properly familiar with my camera, so that I can bang off photos with it without really having to think (its a proper manual job – FYI).
A poor workman blames his tools, to an extent.
randomtask 
Get a red lens filter.
They add depth and definition to black and white photos.
Give it a go, it’ll give you an excuse to use up your film by comparing the difference with and without.
Or you could ask Den, esp considering he’s WAY more experienced than me in the photography field.
I may work in the shop, but my experience is more retail and printing rather than pro-photography.
Or i could ask David Bailey next time he’s in. <– I ain’t kidding, he’s come in for passport photos, and his wife regularly leaves her films with us for developing.
Country’s most famous photographer coming to our shop, great, just a shame that if we DARE mention his name in association with us, he’d probably sue us for…
…just what IS the legal term for "bullshitting"?
Hey Rob, tis true you should only buy new gear if it’s the only thing holding you back.
That’s what I did when I kissed goodbye to my Tamon 28-200mm superzoom. Hah!
Only today I felt myself wanting to buy a new wideangle lens before I realised I couldn’t take wideangle landscapes to save my life. That’s now on hold until National Geo call me up complaining about the fuzzy quality on my prints due to my crap lens 😉