What's poppin, people? It's Dante. And welcome to the final module of this online course, Module nine, the final project. And so, in today's lecture, I will be teaching you how to apply layering in a local assignment that you can work on with consistency to improve your photography. And so, essentially, the goal of making these photographs on this assignment is for you to prove your understanding of layering, right? To actually put it into practice. The point isn't for you to come home with the best single images, right? The point is to embrace the process, to start to recognize how you can put together a frame with intentional structure and clarity, with control. And so here in my hometown, Philadelphia, my personal assignment that I worked on was essentially photographing bus stops. And so I have two special locations that I visit time and time again. One being the bus stops on Market street or similar bus stops that I can find on various streets in my hometown. Another one being Penn's Landing, where I have a place, place in my city by the riverside. And these two locations are places that I return to time and time again. And so by working the same scene over and over again, I increased my ability to put together order in these layered frames. And so I encourage you on this assignment to find a location that you can visit that is very close by, that is easy for you to access, so that you can practice every single day, even if it's 30 minutes a day. These kind of reps that you put in go a long way. Seriously. And so I encourage you to find somewhere that you can walk to drive to, or take a bus to that's local, that's close, and that allows you to work with this process of making a layered frame. And so the goal is to avoid chasing novelty. The goal is to remain consistent with your practice by finding a scene that you can work over and over again. Find a location, whether it's a marketplace, a bus stop, a street corner, someplace where you know the light is just right. Places that I prefer on your riversides. And the reason why I prefer these locations by the river is because I know that I have a clean horizon line. I know that I have a clean background, and that the way that I work in these kind of environments are consistent. And so I can always kind of know that I have control of my stage, that I have control of the environment that I'm photographing in, and simply waiting for new characters and waiting for new situations to occur in those spaces. So the goal is for you to shoot in one or two locations with consistency and work in a Very sort of concrete area. You know, it could even just be 30 square feet, like a bus stop. And so what you should focus on when you're making pictures on this assignment is the background. Firstly, you want to set your stage. You want to find somewhere that you can work with a consistent background so that you can then create visual hierarchy. Here you can see a photograph I made on a bus stop in Market street using that background of the advertisement, using the advertisement on the side of the bus stop, using the people on the sidewalk and those that are walking by or waiting for the bus as the characters within my picture to create this kind of visual hierarchy between the foreground, middle, ground and background. And so really focus on the background. Focus on the structure that you can create in a frame. Because with layering, it really does come down to clarity. And so when you're photographing, recognize that you're going to have to shoot a lot. You know, it's going to be important for you to shoot a lot of photos, and so quantity is important. But when you're going through and editing, you're going to have to edit ruthlessly. You're going to have to only pick those one or two strong photos so that you can start to see how long it takes for you to make these kind of frames. You know, it's going to be a month of you shooting every single day. And you may have one or two frames, you know, and so don't focus on making a hundred great photographs. Focus on making one or two photographs over volume. You know, you're going to be making lots of frames. You might go out there and shoot thousands of photos in a month. But when you come home and you review the work, you want to have an objective view when you're editing. I encourage you to hopefully, you know, be detached emotionally. Right? That's the goal. So when you're going out there and you're shooting and you return home to look at the photos, I would suggest not looking at the photographs immediately. I think that the best editing comes when you're detached and looking at the work objectively. And so spend about one month working on this assignment. And at the end of the month, go through the photographs. You know, I think you should import the photographs every day, right? Get them on your hard drive, get them on your computer or your iPad, and make sure that the photos are ready for you to view. But don't go through them and make any serious selections until the end of the month. You know, I think that's really critical is for you to be Detached, so that when you're editing, you can really start to compare the different frames and start to analyze which photographs are worth keeping and which photographs are worth ditching. And so another example here on the screen, a photograph I made of these women that are wearing all red, right? And this relationship I built was through that assignment, you know, just returning to the same bus stop every day. And this is a bus stop. These are people waiting at a bus stop. So this assignment does work, and it's something that I've used in my own personal process. Now moving into some photographs and examples that I made in Penn's Landing by the River. And so the final set that you build on this assignment should showcase your ability to see clear layers. You know, where you'll start to see that you have the AB with intentional positioning to place different people throughout your frame from the foreground, mid ground, and background. You know, the goal for you on this assignment is to increase your patience. You know, you're going to have to embrace the mundane nature of life. You're going to be sitting there with your camera for some time, waiting for things to occur, looking and sort of staying put for a long time, because that's really what layering looks like in practice. And so you're going to start to recognize that. And so with the. With the process of you going out there and making these photos, don't get attached to the idea that you're building a portfolio, right? The goal isn't for you to go out there and make your 10 best photos of all time. The goal is for you to start to see differently. The goal is for you to start to return to the same location with consistency so that you can start to create visual hierarchy. Because when you return to the same location over and over again, you have more control over the scene. And so when you're making these pictures and you're reviewing the images, some simple signs of success is simply being able to recognize patterns in your work, recognize that you're starting to be patient, and that patience is starting to pay off. You know, recognizing that you can explain why an image works, you can explain how the visual hierarchy in a frame is creating success in those photographs, right? And so trust your editing decisions over time, you know, once you start to get comfortable, you'll start to recognize which photographs stand out over others. And so signs of success typically look like being able to recognize the visual hierarchy within your frames. And so when you're out there and you're shooting, embrace the process. Really, you want to be detached from the fact that you're making anything great. You really want to be in the flow state. You want to be in the moment when you're photographing. And at the end of the month, after some time of shooting every single day, then you can start to put things together and see where you're at with your process. And so the goal is for you to grow. The goal is for you to learn and start to understand and explore this process through giving yourself a creative constraint by returning to the same place every single day. And then over time, you'll start to improve, but don't seek perfection. Firstly, the goal is for you to start to become more patient and observant and start to see deeply and start to build visual hierarchy and start to make decisions in these certain locations when it comes to your physical body's position in relationship to the subjects in the background. And so now we're going to discuss building a consistent, layered set. And so here you can see a photograph that I made at Penn's Landing on this foggy morning. We have the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. We have two simple subjects in the frame, and they're all given their individual space. Everything is clearly separated with hierarchy. This photograph is calm and legible. And so with consistency, essentially what that means is that you're going to start to see similarly across your different frames and across the different places that you photograph, right? And the point is for you to not necessarily repeat the same picture over and over again, but start to understand how your frames come together with cohesion. You know, you'll start to recognize similar tricks or similar ways that you're seeing, right? When it comes to placing a subject in the foreground, placing something in the background, and that kind of relationship that you start to build with the world and the way that you start to see will become calm and legible throughout your frames. And so I encourage you, when returning to these locations, to look for deeper relationships that you can make between the different people, between the environments. I have here in Penn's Landing, a carnival throughout the summertime. And I know that by returning to this location, there's going to be some energy, there's going to be some people, and there's going to be a consistent background that I can work with. And so I try to find new ways for me to relate different subjects from the foreground to the background and try to play with with those relationships more so than the idea of me stacking complexity and always looking for variety. And so you want to start to look and seek the sort of rhythm of the street that you are photographing in and start to understand how you can create hierarchy in these similar locations that you visit. And so when editing and looking at your work, recognize that you're only going to come home with a few keeper photos. You know, five to 10 images max should be within this. Keep within this set of photographs, right? We have another view of Penn's Landing. You can see the same Ferris wheel in the background from that previous picture. You can see the same bridge. You know, we have the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. And so what happens is when you go out there and you're photographing in these similar locations, it's also very easy for you to build a consistent set, simply due to the fact that the light in that location is nice and you always can predict it. You know, the background is clear and you can always return to it. And so when you're making the relationships of the photos that you have and you're creating a consistent set of images, you know, really, you want to pick the ones that are strong, that stand on their own, but then also complement each other in a set, you know, with layering. You're looking for the photographs that have structure. You're looking for the photographs that are stronger. You're not looking for the photographs that just fill your set. You know, you really want to make sure that you limit the amount of photographs that you present. And so with the photographs that you make, you'll start to recognize where harmony matters. You know, where there's something in the photograph that sings, you know, whether it's the person and the gesture or the way the background and structure hold the photograph together with a similar weight, you know, you're going to start to notice the sort of balanced energy in your frames that you start to develop naturally through consistency. And so watch for transitions on the streets. When you're photographing, you might notice, you know, that you're, you're. You're shooting in similar lighting conditions. You know, you're shooting with a similar background. You're shooting a particular kind of subject. And so when you're sequencing the photos and you're looking at the consistent set, notice how these different frames kind of work together and create cohesion. And so with repetition builds confidence, right? The more you go out there and you practice, the more you go out there and explore that location over and over again with a controlled environment that you can return to with familiar backgrounds, you will start to go deeper in that location. And the deeper you go in these locations, the more you will improve and enter the flow. And so seek depth in These similar locations over and over again, rather than seeking novelty of trying to, you know, go to a million different places. And so this is really important in my practice. This is how I learned layering. I learned layering through being disciplined, of returning to Penn's Landing. Here's another photo from Penn's Landing, returning to bus stops. And this is just essentially how I developed my ability to make layers. And that's why I'm sharing this with you. And so when you're making pictures and you come home with a strong image, they should be strong on their own. You should not have to explain them. You shouldn't have to, you know, have to, like, explain why a certain element relates to another. Right. I think the photograph, it should speak on its own. The visual hierarchy that you create, it should work on its own. And so when you look at all the photographs at once, you know, and you have all these pictures laid out, you're going to start to see which photographs are stronger and which photographs are weak. And so really remove the photos that are superfluous ruthlessly. You know, when you look at your photographs, I suggest putting them on a wall. If you can see in my little webcam here, I have on the back of this, of the background here, I put little, small thumbnail prints on the wall. And so I encourage you to print the work out that you make on this assignment. Put them on a wall, put them on the floor and start to see them as a full set. Remove the weak ones and really only focus on the photos that are strong and that have a clear sort of vision and structure within the frames. And so with this practice of going out there and photographing in the same location, that consistency, that discipline, that restraint that you have is going to build strength in your work. And so really stay true to the assignment. Really stay true to the location that you return to. And the reason being is it will pay off over time. And so now we're going to talk about reviewing your work and the next steps. And so when you're reviewing the work and you're looking at your pictures, you really got to remove your ego. You got to look for clarity and structure, firstly, because that's what layering is all about. It's about seeking sort of resolution in the frame. You know, when you're out there and you're playing this game of street photography, you got to recognize that it's a visual game of creating hierarchy, of creating structure. And so when you're out there and you're making your pictures, stay in the moment, but when you're reviewing the photos, you kind of have to detach that you even made the photos so that you can simply look at these photos objectively. And so when you're looking at the work, look for patterns. Look for things that make the photo strong. Look for photo photos that maybe you made some mistakes and they're weak. Right. Recognize what your strengths are. Recognize what your weaknesses are. Maybe you're lacking patience and you need to start to wait longer. Maybe you're moving in a strange way at the moment you press the shutter. You know, sometimes what I notice is it's that simple micro adjustment, that simple way in which I move my body, that really influences the result of the photograph. And so I think it's important for you to start to really hone in on timing and physical positioning when practicing layering. And by reviewing your work, you can maybe start to see those patterns that emerge and how you're actually operating in the street. And it's always for me that I realize that micro adjustment, that small step to the left or right or that small step forward and getting closer, that makes the difference in the image. And so, as you're looking through the work and you're reviewing, notice what's improving over time. Notice how you're making relationships between the foreground and the background. Notice how you're making more intentional decisions with your positioning. You know, it's actually really amazing what happens when you have intention on the streets. You know, I photograph with intentionality. You know, when I made this photograph in Baltimore of the rainbow, I actually went out there with the intention of photographing a rainbow. You know, believe it or not, when it was raining here, I did go out with my umbrella with the intention of hopefully finding a rainbow at the end of the day. And it did appear. And so while I, you know, approach this particular scene, I had that intention, and I was ready, you know, and I set my stage, and I had this backdrop that was clean, that was clearly showcasing the thing that I was interested in photographing. And so as you go out there and you start to photograph with more intention, as you go out there and you start to find things in the location that you're photographing that you can include within your frames, you will start to photograph with more clarity. You will start to have that sort of vision come together naturally. And so really think about, when you're looking at the photos, whether or not the photo that you made was a haphazard, random composition or whether or not you actually set the stage and set the composition up with Intention, because that's going to be the difference between you actually improving or not, is whether or not you can wait longer, be more patient, photograph with intention, and then create structure. And so accept your current level. Right? Every photograph that you make is merely a snapshot in time of where you are now. You know, you're not going to be there forever. You're going to improve incrementally, but it's going to take a lot of time. And so just recognize that as you're getting started with layering, as this is a lifelong pursuit, it's something that requires you to really be out there and be in the process. And it's going to take a lot of time. Not only throughout the year, but also simply during the day as you're out there working a scene. It could take an hour for you to just wait and watch as things kind of align patiently. And so when you're looking at your photographs, recognize that sometimes you can actually improve based upon what you're looking at. You know, sometimes you may seem see weak separation between your subjects. Sometimes you might find yourself making flat frames. You know, sometimes you might be impatient. You know, these traits and these failures and these mistakes are very much easy for you to improve upon. You know, when you're impatient, stay longer. When you're making flat frames, try to add death, add depth, and sort of move your physical body so that you can create those sort of hierarchies between the different planes. You know, when you're making a photograph and you have weak separation between different elements, it could simply just be due to the fact that you weren't photographing with strong light, you know, because light is the glue that will hold these frames together. And so find yourself photographing when you're making layered frames in good light. You know, a lot of the best times to shoot is during the golden hour for this kind of work. Because with light, you can clearly see separation and contrast between the subjects that you're photographing. And so make sure that these failures that you find, these sort of mistakes that you make are something that you simply use as a way for you to learn and improve. And so keep this assignment alive. Right? Return to those bus stops, return to those locations, wherever you may be, over and over again, and return monthly. You know, keep tracking your evolution by looking at the frames at the end of the month. And so, and sort of train yourself to embrace the mundane. You know, you're going to become more patient, you're going to become more observant and see deeply when returning to these Locations. So that's the goal, is for you to sort of become a disciplined photographer. You know, I think that really is the goal of these kind of assignments. Where I want you to work in a constrained sort of place is to just build that discipline, right? Build that muscle. Like you see the gym behind me, I'm always lifting, always doing physical exercise. You know, it's. It's the same kind of thing, you know, treat the world, treat the street that you return to, like a visual gym. And the more that you shoot, the more your muscle will grow visually. And so it's really important for you to treat layering as this sort of lifelong skill. You know, I'm never going to stop lifting weights and trying to get stronger. I'm always going to go out there and try to practice my photography and see deeply. I'm always going to try to look for more relationships that I can build. So treat this practice like a lifelong skill. It's not something that you learn once and move on. This is something that you're constantly developing over time. And so walk the same streets, right? Walk fewer scenes, you know, or work fewer scenes, you know, try to just find that location that you can return to. You know, we're looking at photos here that I've made in Baltimore in this consistent set, you know, where I walk the same streets every day in Baltimore in these really small areas, you know, basically just a few blocks in Baltimore. And by walking that same street, I became much more familiar with the environment, familiar with the people, familiar with the light and where people will be. And then through being in that sort of small area, this small neighborhood in Santa Winchester, I was able to work those scenes consistently, you know, but I wasn't chasing novelty. I was returning to the same street every single day. And then through that consistency, I started to improve. And so with layering, there's really no trick. It's all going to come down to patience. You know, with layering, it's a very difficult, I believe, kind of photo, right? Like to kind of make, you know, like there's no trick. There's no, you know, amount of, like, you know, I was thinking, you know, how to end this module, how to sort of conclude this sort of course here and give you some sort of practical steps to take to really put this into practice. But, you know, frankly, there is no checklist that I can give you. There is no trick, there is no hack to layering other than consistency and patience, right? Like being able to stay disciplined by returning to the same places over and over again. Working with those constraints of location. Because when you have that kind of like, assignment, that thing that you can just like pick up your camera and like return to every day, you're just going to enter the flow state much more easily than always trying to navigate somewhere new. Because the more you're trying to look for something new, the more you're chasing novelty, you know, the less you're going to improve with this kind of thing with layering. And so the real the, the biggest thing I can, can give you at the end of this module is essentially that, right, you want to sort of give yourself this assignment of working in a familiar location, working on the same street every day, and then by following that same route, by looking at that same backdrop, you can start to improve. But it's going to take time. And I'm sharing this with you through my own personal experience that this is something that I have genuinely done. And so I worked on the streets of Philadelphia by the bus stops and by Penn's Landing for a few years straight. I would say it was around the time that I was in COVID lockdown time, 2020, 2021. I was working in the same streets every single day, returning to a bus stop, returning to Penn's Landing. And then finally I went to Mumbai, India to put those ideas into practice and to use layering in the streets, where it's pretty much the Mecca of layering. Okay. And so we're now going to talk about travel and end this course off with my behind the scenes footage that I have from Mumbai, India. So you can actually see what happens when you practice with consistency and then try to go to a new location and attempt to practice with layering. Right. And so recognize firstly, before we get into that, that you really don't need to travel yet, you know, your hometown is enough. Like I said, I spent over a year practicing at bus stops and, and practicing at Penn's Landing, where I have the same background every single day before chasing novelty and going to a new place. So traveling isn't going to fix this problem. And so recognize that, you know, you got to stay local firstly, because that's how you build the consistency, that's how you build your visual language, that's how you sort of improve incrementally. It's through recognizing that traveling to a new place isn't going to make you a better photographer, but will make you a better photographer, is going out there every single day. And so you got to be comfortable with shooting in a familiar place firstly. And so essentially when you travel and let's say you were to travel, you know, just for the sake of traveling, thinking that you're all of a sudden going to be able to practice layering and have so much more success with your photography. I mean, this couldn't be further from reality. You know, these kind of frames with layers, they only reveal themselves to you once they're internalized. Once you've actually sort of put in the. Put in the time and put in the reps, you know, that's the only time that layering makes sense. So traveling will make sense to you after a year, at least maybe two. And then once you actually have this understanding of how to build these relationships, when you travel somewhere new, then you can really go hard and you can really put these ideas into practice. Right. And so why Mumbai? So I highly recommend traveling to Mumbai if you're curious about photographing with layers and you're looking for a complex sort of place to work within. You know, Mumbai is the Mecca of street photography. It's not even going to allow you to look at the world shallow, you know, it's going to make you photograph with layers, basically, because that's unavoidable in these kinds of environments in Mumbai, you know, there's so much density, there's so much humanity, there's so much motion. You know, everything's kind of happening all at once in Mumbai. And it's the Mecca of layering for street photographers because of this simple fact. There's a variety of locations, beautiful scenes. There's so much to see. And I find that by returning or to these streets for that month that I was in Mumbai, you know, it was really just a pleasant surprise to my eyes. You know, I would wake up each day and just feel like I'm in heaven on earth for street photography because of all the incredible scenes. And so I can't recommend it enough. And that's why, you know, I wanted to end this assignment off with an example of what happens after you actually practice in your hometown and then traveling to a new place. If you actually build the skill of being able to make layered frames when you travel to new play, new place, you'll increase your success rate. Right. And so Mumbai is really going to demand you to be patient and to position yourself into weight. You know, it's not something that you can go, you know, it's not a kind of location where you can just like, throw yourself into the market, you know, and like, be around all this chaos and just start running and gunning. Right. And so you're not Gonna be able to control all of this motion and chaos. But what you can control and internalize is your patience, your observation. And then when you're in these scenes in Mumbai, it's gonna demand you to slow down, right? That's really important when traveling to these places, is you want to slow down and kind of just allow life to unfold, allow life to flow, and then you can start to build control and structure. But this is only after you've already internalized this ability in your hometown. And so with Mumbai, it really gave me a lot of opportunity to practice layering, because pretty much every single day, I would return to these kind of similar streets, and I would return to similar locations in Mumbai, even in a new place, because I started to be able to recognize the patterns of people. I started to recognize where people position themselves. I started to understand the backgrounds. And so there was a few familiar locations that I would return to in Mumbai that really demanded me to be patient, you know, because you can go to these new places and be in the chaos and start to photograph aggressively and run and gun and always seeking novelty. But in order to have the trip pay off, you have to slow down and find yourself repeating the same walks, going to similar locations, and really so starting to slow down so that you can start to see in layers. And so a lot of the work that is best, right, that I believe has the most sort of impact on a viewer when working with layering are the images that have clear structure, you know, that don't need explanation, right? Those kind of quiet frames, those frames, that kind of stuff sing. You know, this happens over time, but it happens once you have an understanding of how to create visual hierarchy. And so I'm going to now leave you with this video. It's 2 hours and 40 minutes long of me shooting in the street. It's raw footage of me actually out there practicing layering. And so when you're watching this movie, I encourage you to watch for how I wait, watch for repetition, watch for my restraint, watch for how I observe life and watch life unfold naturally from behind the scenes at my POV. I'll be sharing with you from a GoPro. Me on the street shooting in Mumbai, you know, in these chaotic environments. I'll also provide for you some of the locations that I photographed in text. So look for that. And I encourage you, you know, before watching this film, to really try to understand the ideas that I shared with you throughout this course and then understand, when watching it, how I actually put those ideas into practice. Okay? And so this is the ending of this course because I believe that the practice never ends. And I find that while watching me on the street, I hope that it can encourage you to actually go out there and hit the streets. You know, maybe these videos, this movie of me photographing in Mumbai can inspire you to go out there and try to improve. And so this maybe can become an example of what you can do, right? Of how the practice and the patience that you pull off in your hometown and shooting with repetition can pay off through understanding the game of layering and street photography generally, and then traveling to a new place, embracing novelty, and then putting all those things and all of those ideas into a body of work that you can make in a new spot. And so now watch the film. I encourage you to check out this movie. As we are now wrapping up the course, there is no longer any modules that will be informative. Informative in terms of lectures or anything, it's pretty much done now. Um, and I thought that this movie of me photographing in Mumbai is the perfect ending so that it will inspire you to go out there and photograph and see differently. And now that you have a deeper understanding of how I approach layering, when you watch this film, it'll hopefully give you a deeper understanding. And so hit the streets, go out there and shoot more. Never leave the house without your camera. You know, focus on that assignment that I talked about. You know, focus on returning to a spot that you can always visit with consistency, even if it's 30 minutes, even if it's one hour out of your day. You know, I know time is scarce, but when you have the time and you set it aside every day to work on this kind of thing, you will start to improve incrementally. And so that's pretty much it for this course. I really do appreciate you watching, hopefully that this next module, this video that I share with you, inspires you. I really encourage you to consider how beautiful this world is through photography and the experiences that you can have through watching this thing. Because really, what it all comes down to, that I've spoken about a lot in this course, is essentially that photography has nothing to do with photography. You know, it has everything to do with how you engage with humanity. And when I travel to a new place like Mumbai or visit somewhere new in the world, I really try to have the experience of adventure kind of guide me, you know, as much as I can understand how to create visual hierarchy and structure which within a frame, if you don't have the courage, if you don't have the curiosity to go out there and actually do the thing. You know, no amount of studying and understanding is going to help you. And so with this final lecture here, this final sort of few words in the video is just all about me encouraging you to go out there and explore. Go out there and live your everyday life. Bring your camera for the ride and recognize that photography can become this passport to the world that has you deeply engaging with life itself. And then through that deep engagement that you have with life. And the closer you get to humanity, physically and emotionally, the stronger your photography will become. And I really do find that that is the key, secret ingredient to street photography. It's all about how you actually engage with the world. And so, you know, you can understand that. You know, you have to place your physical position in relationship to the subject, the background, and click the shutter and understand these kind of ideas, right? But now it's time to actually go and put that idea into practice. To go out there with repetition in your hometown to work on a local project or an assignment, and then eventually, when you have the sort of ability to see clearly with visual hierarchy, to then go ahead and travel to a new place. You know, I recommend Mumbai. This is the Mecca for street photography. If you're trying to make layers, that's the place to go. And so hopefully this video will inspire you to get started on this journey of street photography and, you know, work on your layering. So thank you for tuning into this course. I really do appreciate it. Make sure you revisit some of these modules. There's going to be lessons with the photos, with the behind the scenes content that you can always revisit. If you're curious about a certain topic, you can always go through the course and revisit that and sort of refresh your memory and go back out there and practice in the streets. So this course will always be available for you and to review and to study. And so with that, yeah, thank you and see you on the streets.