As you say Dave- Memories.

             Time has caught up with us a bit now so I will clock off now- I will have to think about "Fit the  Word " tomorrow. 

Really enjoying all the comments. 

I had a makeshift darkroom whilst still living with my parents. Later, I turned the spare room in the home after I married, into a darkroom, very similar to the previous one. Good times indeed, as the quality achieved in monochrome after developing films and printing, were all my own work. I even bought film in bulk rolls, putting lengths into cassettes. The vast gulf between those efforts in the darkroom and the truly abysmal state of colour proceeding labs was a clear reason to either stick with slide film or take the monochrome route. I used slide film more it less for holiday photography, and black and white film for the vast majority of the rest of the time. My colour negative work was rare and used for specific tasks like three weddings I undertook, sending off the film to labs that cost a small fortune, but provided good results. High street outlets did not cut the mustard and any complaints about quality were often knocked back by them,  blaming the photographer when stale chemicals and dreadful filtration were the actual cause. 

So, now in 2014, we as photographers, pro and amateur have the options that offer the means of producing high quality. We can convert our images using  a whole range of tones, and the current equipment, not only at the top end, can deliver great pictures.

Digital has really opened up photography. As for monochrome or colour, now I love them both.

I too processed my own images, mostly B&W negative film, with some colour and reversal film when I felt adventurous. As you say, Rod, the high street processing labs were pretty abysmal and if you wanted reliable results it was better to do it yourself or use a Pro Lab if you could afford it. Home processing was difficult in an improvised dark-room, but there was an undeniable magic in making your own prints.

When digital cameras first appeared, I was initially sceptical, but when the sensor resolutions got up to around 8 MegaPixels or more, I had to accept that the digital image was generally as good or better than film. Certainly there was less trouble with specks and scratches, which I always got with film. The most noticeable difference between film and digital photography, as with analogue and digital audio, is that the digital process is less forgiving of 'clipping' of high levels. Therefore the  'highlight alert' became for me one of the most useful tools on a digital camera.

I still like the idea of film as a physical medium, but the expense and fiddling about is too time consuming for me now. For B&W these days, the choice is just a few clicks of the mouse. 

I think you are being too self critical, John. I have looked at some of my pictures on here which I don't rate highly now, but I see other people have added them to their 'favourites'.

PoE is not about getting perfect pictures, but showing the variety of England. People looking here have their own reasons for liking a particular view, not necessarily just photographic, but possibly some sentimental or nostalgic reason, we will never know.

Goods points again chaps.

When I've taken weddings and portraits I'm often more than surprised by the choices the people involved opt to have printed or inserted into albums. We see the images coming from a slightly diffrernt angle if you'll excuse the pun.  

I have been playing about viewing some of my images in B&W, just out of curiousity. One point is immediately apparent. Losing the dimension of colour can make some images worse, where colour was used in the original picture to differentiate areas of the image (pretty obvious, really). Thinking in B&W requires much more attention to composition, to produce clearly defined areas in the picture which need to be separated. Losing the dimension of colour can force the photographer to use other creative tricks, such as shallow depth of field, to separate areas of the image. I am almost tempted to get out the EOS3 and load it up with that roll of outdated B&W negative film that's been kicking about in the drawer for years!