Happy Wednesday. I want to share something I've been thinking about this week. I was going through some old contact sheets from early in my career — those little strips of negatives you'd hold up to the light to decide what was worth printing. I've been a professional photographer for 35 years, and looking at those early frames is always a humbling exercise. Most of them were terrible. But here's what I noticed: the difference between the frames I threw away and the frames I printed wasn't the camera. It wasn't even the light. It was this one thing — whether I had slowed down enough to actually see the scene before I pressed the shutter. Photography is mostly a waiting game. Waiting for the light to change. Waiting for the moment to organize itself. Waiting for yourself to get quiet enough to notice what's actually there. I built this community because I believe that's what great photography teaching should do — slow people down, help them see more clearly, and give them the tools to translate that seeing into an image that means something. 📸 This week's challenge for you: Pick one subject — a window in your house, a tree in your yard, a corner of your street — and photograph it at three different times of day. Same subject, same lens, completely different light. Post your three images here in the community. I'll personally comment on every submission before Sunday. There's no such thing as an ordinary subject. There's only ordinary light and ordinary attention. Let's change both. — Dan

I just finished this photograph from one of my recent fall images. What drew me in was the tangle of branches, the gray tree trunks, and the bright color of the autumn leaves weaving through the scene. One thing I want you to know about this community is that I’m not teaching photography from theory alone. I’m still out there making photographs, editing, experimenting, solving problems, and building finished images. When you join Dan Cleary The Camera Coach, you’re learning from a working professional photographer who is still practicing the craft every week. That’s the fun part of photography: we never really stop learning.

When I look through some of my best photographs, the subject is slightly off-center. I call this the rule of thirds or leading lines. When thinking about the rule of thirds, the subject is in a comfortable position in the composition. When I use leading lines, I guide the viewer to my subject. What you want to try today is to take two photographs: one with the subject centered in the frame and one off-center. Think about putting space in front of your subject, giving the viewer space to breathe. Now compare the two images and tell me what you see. That’s how you start training your eye.

Tell me what camera you use. I use Nikon cameras, mainly a D750 and a D850. I use the D750 to photograph people and the D850 to capture my fine artwork. Back when I shot with film, I used a Mamiya 645, a medium-format camera, and got 30 shots from a 220 roll of film. My first true digital camera was a Fuji S1, a DSLR with a Nikon body that used my lens. It was a 6-megapixel camera that produced great color for photographing people. Nikon's first digital camera wasn’t color-balanced for people, which caused many photographers to switch to Canon. But now, all manufacturers’ digital cameras have good color balance. I haven’t purchased a mirrorless camera yet because I have many lenses compatible with my DSLR. I'll join the mirrorless camera club sometime before the year is out.

When I am walking around taking photographs, I’m always looking for what looks interesting. Many times I am looking for that great vista, but often it is something little that makes a great photograph, a reflection. Any time these photographs are around you, you just have to find them. Next time you are out creating photographs, look for reflections in puddles, windows, mirrors, water, shiny surfaces, or storefront glass.