The best photographers are lifelong students of light.

If there’s one thing you should pursue, it’s the discovery of light.

Its attributes, its quirks, its beauty, its quiet way of speaking 1000 words in one photograph.

Often times we chase obvious subject matter. A cute cat. A mountain view. An architectural marvel. A culinary spread.

We don’t see the forest for the trees. We wrongly believe that if we could just find a more interesting subject, a subject that has just that much more wow-factor than the last one, then our photos would be better.

But actually, it’s light that is the true hero in every photo.

Light is what holds up a subject (or makes it fall flat).

So how do you pursue a lifelong education in light?

I could share a long list of exercises and practices to perfect the skill. But I’ll just share one.

And it’s the most important one they teach in photography school, so listen up:

Black and white photography.

Most of us create colour photographs. But it’s important to do black and white photography regularly. Even if it’s just 5% of your work, it’s a crucial practice.

What it does:

It strips the colour from the image and our brains are left to notice, study and work solely with light and shadows.

The variances in tones, from blackest black to whitest white and everything in between comes into clear view for us.

We start seeing light like we never noticed it before. We start understanding how it interacts with shapes, textures and space.

We see the light and its active relationship to our subject. The light has the power to change how we see a subject.

And knowing how to master light and its interaction with the subject is how we make a photograph “speak”.

If you can make a photo speak in a powerful way using light, you are one step closer to mastering photography.

Society tends to put high value on new things. New ideas, new discoveries, new ways of moving through the world. We get bored with the same old norms, and we get easily allured by new things. Culture rewards innovation but sometimes we go too far, and we chase it in everything, forgetting to ask whether it’s actually an improvement.

It’s what they call Shiny Object Syndrome.

Or maybe I should call it Shiny Subject Syndrome, as it applies to photography.

We think our photos could just be better if only we had more interesting subjects to photograph.

But we forget what makes anything shiny.

It’s light. ;)

In photography, the subject’s value is 100% dependent on the light hitting it.

Think about it. Without light, you wouldn't even see the subject.

The subject’s visibility (and worth) is completely tied to how light illuminates it.

Instead of chasing subjects, let’s chase light.

Let’s learn to see it, use it and master it to bring worth and value to our subjects.

This is the mark of a great photographer: the ability to value light, and to make photos speak through how light shapes and reveals the subject.

Get better by regularly playing with black and white photography.

It will take your photography skills to the next level.

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Everyone's asking, and I'm excited to finally share my next phone photography workshop dates!

Mark your calendars for not one, but THREE workshops live on Zoom in January:

Phone Photography Workshops 2026

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Hi I'm Gabrielle. I run a full time photography business in Winnipeg, specializing in portrait and commercial photography. This newsletter started with my passion for helping everyday people realize their full photography potential. With a bit of technical and creative help, you too can take better photos with the phone camera you already have.

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Gabrielle Touchette Photography

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