18% Grey

My brother is old enough to remember series radio. Shows like "Our Miss Brooks" and "Green Lantern." He says he liked the pictures better.
I know what he means. Sometimes the pictures in our minds are much clearer than those handed to us.
Likewise, sometimes black and white is more colorful than color.
One of the disadvantages of digital photography is that photos are always in color. They aren't always printed in color, but the black and white images reproduced on paper from digital color are not the same as black and white images from a negative.
Black and white photography is about light and shadow. It's subtle in tone. Greys are measured in percentages, scientifically, but artistically, they are measured by the eye.The aesthetics are deeper. Ansel Adams' landscapes. Richard Avedon's portraits. Nothing in color can come close.
Digital can't come close to the tactile sensation of working with film. Developing the films itself is mundane, but it's also intensely private. The joy comes when playing the the enlarger. Burning, dodging -- the physical acts are so much more rewarding than "photoshopping." Even more important, you can hold two prints side by side and compare them in various lights.
I'm not digital-bashing here. Digital is quick and convenient and can be economical. But no one should claim to be a photographer without spending hours in a darkroom, alone, creating.