Start Here

How to use this website to learn photography — and follow along as I build the work

Welcome — I’m Paul MacPherson, a Toronto-based photographer building a practice, not a highlight reel. This site is my public notebook: what I’m shooting, what I’m studying, what I’m testing, and how I’m trying to turn all of that into cohesive bodies of work.

If you’re new here, use this page like a map. Pick a starting point, follow one path, and you’ll be up to speed fast.

Quick note about the TMI section: you may see some posts tagged or filed under “TMI.” That’s intentionally not part of my photography journey. It’s a personal life blog and side notes, and it isn’t required to understand the work on this site.

The fastest way to get oriented

Read these four posts (in order)

  1. The long game / the structure behind my practice
  1. What I’m anchored in (and why walking matters)
  1. How I’m trying to build style (through constraint + repetition)
  1. The mindset shift that makes progress inevitable

If you only read one sequence on this site, make it that.

Follow the work in real time

If you want the cleanest “live thread” of what I’m building right now, start here:

  • Projects Overview – A page listing a short description of active and on-hold projects.

Currently active projects.

  • Project – Dusk till Dawn – I believe my photography is currently at its best in urban landscape compositions captured between dusk and dawn.
  • Project – Environmental Portraits – My pursuit of environmental portraits that are made randomly and deliberately around Toronto.
  • Project – Self-Portraits – This project started out of a desire to do something indoors when temperatures got too cold this winter, but I think I may keep it up longer than the cold snap.
  • Project – Abstract Street Photography – This body of work explores abstraction in the winter city, using muted, earth-toned colour and motion to register presence, transition, and impermanence within the urban landscape.

How to use the Projects pages: read the project overview first → then click into the linked blog posts. You’ll see the decisions being made in context instead of as isolated tips.

Choose your path

Pick one lane based on what you want to learn right now. Each path has a few “best entry points” so you’re not hunting around.

Fundamentals (craft + philosophy)

Classic principles, modern interpretation, and the mindset behind the work.

Urban street practice (seeing + constraint)

The 28mm discipline, walking, awareness, and building consistency.

Photojournalism storytelling (structure + sequencing)

How to build essays that hold together and say something.

Portraits + self-portraits (presence + empathy)

Training comfort with people by starting with yourself and moving outward.

Abstract street (constraints → portfolio)

How experiments become a cohesive body of work.

Visibility + website-first thinking (publish + compound)

How I’m building the platform that supports the work.

If you’re the “tell me what to do” type

Here are three simple ways to follow along without overthinking it:

Option 1: Follow the Projects
Start at the Projects Overview and read whatever I’m actively building.

Option 2: Follow the practice rhythm
Use this as your baseline: Three Sessions a Week for 105 Weeks

Option 3: Steal my learning loop
Read → shoot a session → write about what you learned or share the keepers or even add to your portfolio.
Start with: Consuming Photography vs Learning Photography

Want to go deeper? Start with influences

My work is shaped by photographers and thinkers I’m learning from — without trying to imitate.

Welcome to the journey.

This page was last updated on January 29, 2026, and I plan to update it towards the end of each month.