 you are in a group of nine other photographers. So there's 10 of you all taking a picture of the same thing. Now, nine of those photographers are going to create a photograph that looks more or less like the other guys. But one of you will take a photograph and the rest of you will be like, what, how did you create that image? I didn't see it, I was standing right next to you. Wouldn't you love to be that one photographer who creates photographs of exactly the same something, but in a way that is so wonderful and unique that it's almost like they have access to a secret stash of photos. How's it, how's it? Today we are going to unlock within you the skill and the art of being able to see what others can't. So those secret photographs that the photographer seemed to be taking. This is probably the biggest jump in the skill that you have as a photographer when you learn to understand this. It takes you from just being somebody with a camera to being a true photographer, somebody who sees the world in a photographic sense. So the first thing is really, you need to be actually searching for photographs. It's fairly obvious. If you're not out there taking photographs, then you can't take the photo. So sitting around, reading books, looking at YouTube videos is great, but there's no substitute for actively being out there with a camera looking for potential things to photograph. You could be surrounded by the world's greatest scenery, the world's greatest subject, but if you're not photographing, then there will never be a photograph made by you of those things. Now, if you don't have a camera always to hand, you can train your mind to be actively seeking out images. You know, just when you're driving along in your commute, see what is around you. Imagine how you could be photographing these things. So you're training your mind to start to recognize the possibilities that are all around you in your photography. The second step, of course, is to not get blinked, to not find yourself in a furrow that you can't escape. Jay Maisel said that the worst thing you could possibly do as a photographer is to go out photographing with a very specific image in mind. Because what happens is you go off, and let's say you go off to photograph some landscapes, and what's happening is that you have already decided that you are gonna photograph the scene in a certain way. So you're blinding yourself to the possibilities, to the options that may present themselves to you. Quite unexpectedly, because you are just going, well, I'm only gonna photograph in a certain way. So that's the only way that I'm sort of thinking about. Can you see how that becomes quite limiting? That if you photograph a tree or a rock or a ski skate or a person in a studio, you're doing a portrait, and you believe that there's only one way, or you want to turn photograph in one way, then you are limiting yourself. You're putting limits on your photographer. And I think that's a real shame when you start to stop yourself exploring the possibilities, then you're stifling creativity where it starts. So the first time that you picked up a camera, you asked somebody, you said, hey, look, what am I supposed to photograph? And they told you, oh, go and photograph a cat or a dog or any of these sort of things. And you went and you photographed the whole thing. Did you photograph the cat as a complete cat or a complete car as a complete car? And so often we find ourselves stuck in that rut that we photograph things within prescribed ways. So if we're doing a portrait, you get told, oh, well, it's a head and shoulders, or it's a half body, or it's a three quarter, or it's a four legs. And beyond those very narrow confines, you shouldn't really be photographing anything else. But of course, that's nonsense, because we know, we know that you can photograph fragments of people and find interesting ways of seeing that object. I mean, look at Harriet Callaghan's photographs of Eleanor. Those are fragments of her. And they are photographs of something that you are standing in front of and that you don't necessarily see. Can you see how all of a sudden, you're teasing out these secret images? So when you're confronted with a subject that you are photographing, see if you can break it down. See if you can break it down into smaller pieces that may hold even more interest for your subjects and more potential for a photograph. Of course, having said that there are fragments to photograph, that of course doesn't mean you shouldn't photograph the whole. But when you do, you then need to think about what is that whole surrounded by? What is this subject? What is the subject in competition with? Are there other characters on this stage of this photograph who are competing for the viewer's attention? If you are going to photograph a subject, a single subject as a whole, then that single subject needs to stand on its own. It needs to be front and center. It needs to be given a private place. It needs to be in the spotlight. So you wanna push away all the other little bits that are competing into the wings. Get them out of the image or isolate the subject in the frame. Make it quite clear in your images that this object in front of us, this thing, this person, whatever it is you're photographing is the subject for the photograph. That's what you want to do. That's why so often we get a bit muddled when you look at photographs because the photographer has not made it clear exactly what it is that they are trying to photograph. If you're finding this video useful, then give it a like and YouTube will share it with other photographers who would also enjoy it. A few years ago, it was a workshop with a bunch of other photographers. There was about 15 of us or so. We were down at the beach and there was a big, like, rocky cove and the model was draped over the rocks and all looked fantastic. The big problem was, though, that 14 out of those 15 photographers were all standing around the guy who was running the workshop, taking photographs from pretty much the same place. None of them had wandered off by themselves to explore the opportunity of what they would see from the left or from the right or from further away or from closer up. They just glommed on to wherever the guru, if you want to call it that, was standing and didn't deviate from it. So I would implore you if you see something that you like, explore the options, explore the viewpoints, you don't get in closer, go to the side, go to the bottom. Look down, land the floor and photograph up. Just find a high bunch point, come down. Change up your viewpoints. You need to stop looking at the world like everybody else does, which is from around about five foot, 10 off the ground, looking straight ahead. When you start getting off that plane, that field of vision, then your photographs all of a sudden instantly hold a little bit more appeal, a little bit more interest because you're showing somebody the world from a perspective that is unusual to them. So don't be like the crowd. Don't be the herd. Try and explore things. Be different in your viewpoint. All of these elements up until this point have just been a precursor. And what I'm about to share with you now is the most important aspect to remember when you're taking photographs when you're trying to create images that arrest people's attention. That is that you should photograph the everyday, the expected, the mundane in a way that is unexpected, that is unusual and arrests people's vision because they will sit down and go, how do you see the world like this? How crazy is it that you can see art in a pepper? That you can see shadows and shape and form in a colander? These objects that for most people are completely boring. But for you, they are like the most amazingly interesting things ever. When you start showing people objects that they think they know in a way that is completely new to them, then people go, wow, your photography is amazing because you're showing them a world that they know that they're familiar to them in a way that is wholly unfamiliar to them. In your photographs, create unusual relationships. Think about the way that things can play with each other, that they can play with our minds and that they can cause us to think about things in a unique way. When you start doing that, then all of these elements that you've been working on come together and they make these photographs that people go, how did you see them? How did you make this photograph? I'm standing right next to you. Then with a nod and a wink, you can go, oh, wow, this is because I'm a good photographer. It's one of the things. The more that you practice these things and you practice them just by being open to the world and the opportunities around you, then the more this becomes second nature and the more rewarding your photography becomes because you're not simply just settling to photograph the mundane and the everyday and the boring. You are being not a slave to the camera, but you're using the camera as a palette of creation. A great example of a photographer who is able to see the world in a completely unique way is Alex Webb. I'm going to link to his video here right now. Go and check him out. He's fantastic and he will teach you so much about being able to pick apart the layers that we see in the world around us.