While I like them both I would have to side with the black & white version of this photo. I prefer the contrast ratio in the B&W much better because some of the contrast is almost lost in the color photo due to the light skin tone and hair color of your subject, IMHO.
Damn seeing all your amazing portraiture is making me miss my archives and equipment (most of which were lost in a house fire years back). I used to shoot strictly on film with a Canon 35mm SLR and carried both a 28mm-80mm and an 80mm-300mm because between the two lenses I had just about every focal length I could want, without the need to carry a massive bag of equipment.
You should start taking photos again:)
I'd love too. I have 1 years worth of formal education in photo but losing all my equipment was a bit of a setback because some of the gear wasn't cheap. The 80 to 300 Zoom lens was close to $500 not to mention the rest I lost.
Just get a second hand camera and one second hand lens to get going again. It doesn't cost much by comparison. I bought a similar setup for a friend for about 200 pounds and it works great. You could probably buy even cheaper if you really shop around.
This is true. I have a friend who does photo professionally and snagged about $2k worth of equipment for $50 on craigsist because someone just said make me an offer on the whole box not even knowing what was in it and ended up with a few bodies and half a dozen lenses. I about died when I saw her massive haul. Just one of the bodies or lenses would have been worth 15 times more than the whole box she got.
Damn. I wish I had that kind of luck. She could just sell the lenses she doesn't need and buy what she wants.