What's poppin, people? It's Dante. Welcome to my online course, Mastering Layering in Street Photography. An embodied approach to composition, light and working the scene. Layering is a way of seeing. Layering is not a trick, it's not a rule, it's not an add on. Layering is, simply put, a way of being present where presence and layering will allow your photographs to have more depth. And so, as you can see, when you looking at this photograph that I made in Jericho, your eye is being carried from the foreground to the middle ground and the background of the frame. And so my secret on how I made that particular picture and how I've made all of these different images that you're gonna see in the photographs that I sort of present to you in these lectures is that photography has nothing to do with photography. Right? Photography has everything to do with how you engage with humanity out there in the open world, on the front lines of life. And as you can see in this behind the scenes photograph, in this little Instax project, I am actually seated behind the two men that were subjects of that previous frame. Meaning when I go out there and explore, I go out there and have an adventure first, right. Where I am a human being and a photographer second. You know, I don't necessarily like to go out there and put on my photography hat and wipe my lens down and go out there to tell visual stories and take my photography so seriously, but I'm genuinely just curious about humanity. I'm completely detached from me making anything. And I think this is critical when I, when it comes to my philosophy on how I approach layering in street photography, where photography is not about gear, settings, tricks or attention. Simply put, your legs and your gut, these are your best tools, right? The camera is just an extension of your body and the physical positioning of your body is ultimately what is within your photograph, right? And so how the hell do you make a layered photograph? And so this very simple idea I want to sort of share with you as a foundational principle about composition and really what I believe to be the art of photography. And so you are responsible for where you position your physical body in relationship to the subject, the background, and when you press the shutter. This really is the foundation of photography. And especially in street photography, it's very important for you to understand this thing because you don't want to be out there caught up in your brain, caught up in your mind, looking and hunting, trying to chase moments. But with layering, you kind of want to unwind, go slow and build photographs Let yourself stay inside of scenes, be patient, and allow these frames to reveal themselves to you. Where this course, it's not going to be quick. I'm not going to give you shortcuts or promise instant results, but through repetition and going out there and practicing, you will ultimately improve your photography. And so no amount of understanding or theoretical jargon will help you. And so recognize that before we dive into future lectures. And so I encourage you to go out there and have the adventure of a lifetime. You have to be out there and be present when you press the shutter. In order to come home with a layered photograph, you actually have to go out there and live life and experience all of life's complexities. This, to me, is at the forefront of my practice in street photography. And so what? Layering is not. Layering is not a trick, a rule, something you add or something you force. Layering is not about making things look complex. Layering is not about stacking chaos or visual noise. Layering is not about impressing other photographers. Simply put, adding more does not make the photograph better, Right? More chaos does not mean the photograph is going to have more depth, complexity, this is often going to kill clarity. And so layering is not about rules. It's not about the rule of thirds or leading lines or visual gimmicks. These. These things don't create life in your frames. But what layering is, is structure. It's placing things together. When you look at the root of the word composition in Latin, it derives from this idea that you are simply placing things together, right? So you want to have an intentional background of purposeful foreground and these kind of clear relationships throughout your frame. Layering is the glue. It's the structure of your frame. And so layering its intuitive composition guided by your instincts. And so you don't want to be caught up in your mind, but you want to be responding to your gut. And so layering is the synthesis of content, form and light, where light will hold these different elements together in your frame. Layering is foreground, middle, ground and background working together in harmony. Layering is actually about removing distractions, not adding more. Okay, so remove instead of add. The fewer elements you know, the better the placement and the more distractions that you remove, the more your photography will actually improve. When using the layering technique, and so think more critically about how you can remove the superfluous from your frames and add the things that are actually impactful. And so photography is physical, it's not theoretical. The positioning of your body, the feet and the movement, your walking Pattern. The these things are going to create structure in your frames. Where photography is a visual game and a physical pleasure. Meaning when you're out there in the world, of course you're looking at life. Of course you're present and engaging with the visual nature of life. You know, recognizing the patterns of people and the way the light falls. But it's also a very physical act. Photography, you know, photography is a physical pleasure of being in an embodied reality, enjoying the sights, the sounds, the smells of the street. You know, really being present and being there when you press the shutter and moving your body left, moving your body right, dropping low in order to influence these kind of compositions that you make. And so layering is all about presence. Layering is all about making sure that when you're out there, you're in the moment. And so don't binge this course. This isn't going to be content for you to consume. I'm not going to give you a checklist of things that I want you to do. I encourage you to take this course one lesson at a time, and recognize that practice matters more than theory. Where the street. This, to me, is the ultimate classroom. You know, I never want to feel like I've mastered street photography. I simply want to be an amateur forever. Where the street is a playground, the street is my classroom. And I forever want to be a student of this game of the streets. And you too should look at photography this way, where it's an endless expanse for you to grow and an endless expanse for you to improve. And so through practicing, with repetition, going out there and making the street your playground and making the street your classroom, you will learn with each click of the shutter. And so with layering, you're going to really have to embrace the mundane. You know, the name of the game in street photography is embracing the mundane. You may feel bored at times when you're standing out there at a street corner waiting for things to align. But this is going to be very important for you to think about before entering this practice of layering. And is the simple fact that you must possess patience. And so when watching these videos, I encourage you to watch them first gather the ideas and then go out there and practice, come back, rewatch the videos, and then maybe you will start to recognize some of these ideas more concretely when you actually go out there and practice these ideas and things. And so the details will then land differently and your learning will compound throughout this course. And so a real simple, practical suggestion is to detach from the outcome. You know, don't measure your progress by single photos, but recognize that layering is a practice. Layering is something that requires you to go out there with consistency. Where firstly, you're seeing will improve, you'll start to notice things more. Next, you'll start to become more patient and your waiting will improve. Thirdly, you'll become a little bit more intentional and this will improve, right? And the results, these things kind of come later, right? And so with street photography, especially layering in street photography, it's mostly failure. 99% failure, 1% success. And so don't measure your success by single images alone, but over time, through embracing the process and recognizing the different steps that you're making progress within. Whether it's your ability to see or your ability to wait, these matter more. And so use this course as a companion. Revisit the lessons, look at the text underneath the different lessons. I'll be sharing with you essays alongside these different modules with behind the scenes video content, there will be contact sheets and photographs for you to look at. And so use the course as a companion on your journey of learning layering. I encourage you to watch a lesson, right? Go outside, put it into practice, stand still in one place, and really start to recognize how you can approach the streets with this art of layering. And then come back and rewatch the videos and then apply that new insight to your practice. The next day you go out there and shoot. And so with photography, I have a very simple goal, and I encourage you to also strive for this goal. The goal is curiosity, right? The goal with photography has everything to do with waking up, with enthusiasm for the day, to go out there in the spirit of play, to practice your photography. And so I find that by waking up this way with curiosity at the forefront, it encourages me to just go out there and press that damn shutter more. And the more that you press the shutter and the more that you chip away at life, the more that you embrace the mundane and bring your camera for the ride, the more the results will come. But it comes with time. And so now go outside. You know, I encourage you to go out there and find yourself at a place where you may have never been before. You know, I encourage you to embrace the unknown. Get on a bus, get on a train, walk a different way. You know, when you go out there with your camera, go out there with an open mind without any preconceived notions of what you will find, find yourself at a beautiful scene where you have a nice backdrop and maybe some people moving in and out of the frame and start to understand how you can make these different relationships from the foreground, middle ground and background and start to see more deeply and start to add depth to the way that you look at life firstly, and put these ideas into practice. And so thank you for watching this first video. I will see you in the next one. Peace.