You quite often find that photographers will characterize themselves as black and white photographers, or color photographers. Even greats like William Eggleston swayed one way and has stayed here. For Eggleston, he chose to be a part of the color camp, of course (Side note: Eggleston started out as a B&W photographer, switched to color very early in his career, and never looked back).
I am not a film photographer, nor have I ever really been one. I shoot digital, and have always had the ability to change the image to black and white after the fact. I will look at an image, and then determine whether I think the image is better represented in color, or in black and white. For some images, the colors play too important of a role to leave them out. For others, they just become a distraction. And, very rarely, you will come across an image that works perfectly in both (see images below).
With that being said, I find myself being drawn more and more to black and white photography. I really don’t know why — I just am. Maybe there’s just a fascination with the past. Or, the fact that black and white forces you to concentrate on the elements in the image, and their relationships, versus getting preoccupied with color.