Creative · 13 recordsLearn photography

Photography stalls in gear research. This fixes the equipment question immediately — whatever you have — then narrows to a single subject so the variable is your seeing rather than the situation, and builds a habit of shooting and reviewing.

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The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

A set of photographs I would show somebody Month 4

One subject, so the variable is my seeing.

Stop researching gear Week 3

Whatever camera is already here.

  • Commit to the camera I already ownDo firstDay 3
  • Pick one subject and stay on itDo firstDay 10
  • Learn what the three main settings actually doWeek 3

Shoot and review Month 4

The review is where the learning happens.

  • Shoot every week for a month without judging itWeek 7
  • Pick the ten best and work out why they workDo firstMonth 2
  • Put a small set together and show somebodyMonth 4

Routines

  • Take photographsweekly
  • Review the week's framesweekly
Skills
  • PhotographyBeginner → Intermediate

    Log the shooting and the reviewing separately if you like. Gear research is the most comfortable form of not practising, and the log makes that obvious.

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One subject

So the variable is your seeing rather than the situation. Shooting anything and everything makes it impossible to tell whether a photograph worked because of you or because of the light that evening.\n\nThe review is where nearly all the learning is. Shooting alone just produces more frames.

Questions

Learn photography, answered.

The one you have, including a phone. Gear research is the most comfortable form of not practising, and the difference between photographers at this stage is entirely in what they point it at.
So the variable is your seeing rather than the situation. Shooting anything and everything makes it impossible to tell whether a photograph worked because of you or because of the light that evening.
By reviewing, not just shooting. The plan pairs a shooting routine with a weekly look back at which frames worked and why, which is where nearly all of the learning happens.
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