One of my workshops is called “Creative Urban Photography”. I take a group of students around Old Oakville for three hours to practice and hone their technical skills, and especially to practice their eye.

This is a great workshop, that I can recommend to all (go to your nearest Henrys to sign up for it).

The wonderful thing is to see what “Urban” means to people. To some it means this:

Paint flaking, by Michael Willems

Bicycle, by Michael Willems

Photographers and mannequin

Or this, Oakville’s very genteel version of vandalism:

Phone box in Oakville, by Michael Willems

While to others, it means happy things like this:

Lonely yellow flower, by Michael Willems

And this:

Red, Yellow and Blue (bins)

And this:

Flowers

(Can you see how I am filing the frame in these images?)

Others yet have a theme like “churches” or “textures”. All good. The thing is, once you have a story, you are great. It does not matter what that story is, and no-one can tell you what it should be. It is your story. All I can tell you is that there should be one.  Random images are not as effective as images that try to tell a story, convey a viewpoint.

So next time, ask yourself what your story is. Once you know, you will fimd ways to portray that photographically.