Howzit!
Been a bit warm here in the UK recently. Rather unsurprisingly, a lot of British people struggle when the heat is more than they're used to.
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This is when little tips and tricks, or, if you want to call them skills, come into play. Having grown up in a hot climate, for example, the best thing you can do during the day is to keep your windows shut and the curtains drawn.
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Photography is somewhat similar in that there are many skills people talk about and we're all aware of, but there are some hidden ideas that don't get enough exposure, as it were.
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This is what we are looking at this week, an ability that I feel benefits all photographers, irrespective of their technical chops, and is one worth developing.

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The Main Frame:

The most valuable skill for a photographer is vision.

Not specifically pre-visualising a photograph or a vision in a meaningful goal sort of way, but the simple ability to see the world in photographic terms.
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Unfortunately, the technical, gear-obsessed landscape in photography keeps people from ever learning how to develop that vision. They spend hours (and usually a ton of money) trying to learn vision the old-fashioned way.
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I have a book on my desk right now by Andreas Feininger called 'The Complete Photographer', which is 343 pages of densely packed text about 'seeing'.
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Andreas was a knowledgeable and talented photographer, but dense books of text aren't as useful anymore.
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We live in a different time.
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I know there are better ways because I wasted decades and at least $184.25c on books trying to learn the secret to cultivating a photographic vision myself.
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But my loss is your gain.
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What worked for me wasn't found in a single book, but in the wisdom of photographers from the ages.
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Vision isn't a do-this, do-that behaviour but a way of thinking about the act of photographing.

The Curator's Gallery:

I've curated some insights from great photographers that will save you the frustration of trying to navigate the road to seeing by yourself..
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​JOEL MEYEROWITZ

Quotes from Joel

Hearing these changed the way I thought about how I interacted with the camera in my hand. It went from being simply a tool I used to capture the scene in front of me to being more of an extension of myself.
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This is why it's so important to be able to operate the camera relying on muscle memory, because it breaks down the barrier between what the camera sees and what the mind's eye sees. It makes the process of taking photographs feel much smoother and more intuitive.
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MAN RAY​
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That second quote really hit home for me. How many times have we heard people ask photographers what lens, what F stop, or what film stock they're using?
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I much prefer to know why a photographer is photographing that specific subject. Why did they choose this angle? What is it about this that they're seeing that we're not?
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​DAN WINTERS​
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Photography is a game of two halves, scientific and artistic.
The scientific part feels like we can learn to some degree of mastery in a weekend, but that artistic side?
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Not so much. I think it's useful to remember that when we listen to photographers of the calibre of Dan, they also understand that it is an ongoing process. It does not happen overnight. It is something we build up and nurture over time.
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Photography is not a game that we can win. It is simply a game that we can enjoy.
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DOROTHEA LANGE

There has been a whole heap written about Dorothea, and when people quote her, they usually use the one about a camera being a tool that teaches you to see.
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But look at that first quote. It's about instincts.
A lot of photographers, I feel, are at war with their own instinct.
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It's hardly surprising, 'cause there are a lot of people out there who tell us that their way of doing something is the right way, and invariably the way that we have chosen to do something is the wrong way.
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Trust your instinct. It will lead you to far more interesting and varied photographs.

The Weekly Observation:

On Monday, I released a video about William Eggleston and his methodology of taking only one photograph of a subject and then moving on.
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Today I featured 4 photographers, all of whom shoot in their own style, and Eggleston also shoots in his own style.
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I think a big trap when looking to improve as a photographer is to commit to a label, such as a landscape, street, or nature photographer.
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Then we feel we should draw inspiration only from other photographers with the same label.
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What on earth could William Eggleston teach a landscape photographer?
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Whenever you are looking at a photographer's work, aside from enjoying it, ask yourself whether there are any ideas in their photographs that you could apply to your own photographs, irrespective of the genre.
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In the case of Egleston and his one-photograph approach, this suggests he pays closer attention to the world around him before he lifts his camera.

He trusts his judgement.

So the landscape photographer could take this idea and say, I am going to look around me. I'm going to see if there are any things I've missed before I commit to taking the photograph?
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And when I do commit, am I going to just take one frame when the moment feels right, or am I going to machine-gun my way through 100 exposures of the same sunset, in the hope that one of them will somehow be better than the others, and all I end up with is confusion?
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Trusting Instinct

It might be tempting to look at these photographers and others of their ilk and say, well, of course, they can trust their instinct because they are good photographers.
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Something I've discovered is that all photographers bring their instincts to their photographs, whether they know it or not.
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When I sit down with them and look at their images, there are ideas, themes, and motifs hiding in their photographs.
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Once we've discovered them, the photographer has a guidebook and a foundation to work on to strengthen these instincts and make their photography unique.
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I'd like to help you discover these, and so we are getting together in Vienna, Austria, over three days in August 2026, to uncover your hidden talents as a photographer.
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A skill set that will last you a lifetime
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You can find out more information and book your seat by clicking on this link
​https://thephotographiceye.info/vienna-workshop/​
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I hope you enjoyed reading this letter this week, and the words of these great photographers and others like them will help you to grow and become more inspired in your own photography.
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Alex