Howzit all!

I’ve just returned from a fortnight in the U.S., spending most of my time exploring photography and catching up with a few people from the TPE Tribe in D.C.
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Those conversations, plus a lot of walking with a camera, clarified something about my own work: over the last decade, I’ve been quietly shaping a style. Not in a lab coat, not with a grand plan, but just by trying to make photographs that feel right.

The Main Frame:

Composition sits at the heart of that. When we’re learning, it’s easy to treat composition like a checklist: rule of thirds, leading lines, spirals, repetition. What I found, though, was that when I treated them as a fixed system, my photos felt forced.
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Theoretically, they should be 'good', but they didn't feel like they were.

What I’ve learned about my pictures is specific. When I lean heavily on angles or diagonals that cross, my images feel more me. More 'right'. Those structures give my images their energy. Patterns, symmetry, and Fibonacci spirals- none of those feel like they belong in my specific type of photography.
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Of course, this is for my photos - for you, there might be a different set of criteria that helps you feel that your images are 'right'.

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Once you know what truly works for your pictures, your attention changes. Sitting in a café, I’m not scanning faces or colours or trees. My eye hunts for slashes of shadow, criss-crossing lines, edges that collide. That selective attention is why I can find photographs almost anywhere: I’m not looking for everything; I’m looking for my things.

This came up in D.C. when sitting with a Tribe member, he asked, “How do you decide what to photograph when everything could be a picture?” That’s the trap—trying to hold the whole world in mind.

Instead, decide what kind of picture you’re trying to make before you raise the camera.

Ask: Which elements do my best images rely on? Angles? Negative space? Rhythm?

Once you name your ingredients, the scene starts to organise itself.

This is also why I’m running a Composition Cohort at the beginning of November. We’ll go beyond theory and into the practice of seeing: identifying the few compositional elements that make your images sing—and then learning to find them on purpose. When those pieces click, the process gets simpler, your confidence grows, and your pictures start to feel like you.Click here to find out more​

Inspiring Me This Week:

We went to go see an exhibit of Black Photographers when in DC.
I was reminded how great Gordon Parks was - not just as a photographer, but as a visual artist.
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​https://www.gordonparksfoundation.org/​
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When you look through the work of photographers you admire, see if you can find their little 'go-to' ways of composing photos.
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Over to You:

I've been giving some thought to the content on the YouTube channel.
One of the things I enjoy most in the TPE Tribe is answering questions photographers have.
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I want to bring more of that to the fore on YouTube, as I feel there isn't enough practical help out there.
If there’s a problem that’s been nagging at you—“Why do my images feel busy?” “How do I use diagonals without chaos?”—hit reply and ask. I’ll make videos that give practical, honest answers.
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Inside the Tribe:

We had a great chat this week about improving our photos and not giving up when an image doesn't work initially.
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A reminder: composition is control.

Not control as in fussing over rules, but control as in choosing what to keep, what to exclude, and how the surviving elements relate.

The moment it becomes instinctive is when photographs start to feel right and, more importantly, begin to appear everywhere.
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Thanks so much for reading!
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Alex
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P.S
There are only a few seats left on the upcoming composition cohort.
This will be the last cohort that I'm running this year.
​Grab your space today​