Color photography is relatively modern. It had not been invented until the 1930s but was not popular until much later. It has been become increasinly popular since the evolution of digital methods. Unfortunatley, black and white is becoming less and less popular. Many point and shoots no longer include a monochrome setting and now have to be converted in post processing.
My first exposure to black and white photography was in high school. I had the greatest opportunity to learn how to develop prints in the darkroom. Depending on what you're photographing, color can be distracting, black and white images eliminates that distraction. Rather than looking at vibrant colors your focus is on shapes composition and use of light to attract a viewer's attention.
