‘Koon Seng Road’ from the series Katong-Joo Chiat – Colours of Continuity and Change by Kamsin Kaneto LRPS
Many of us are on a visual journey that swerves from one image to the next, occasionally striking gold.
But moving beyond the single image and developing a different way of seeing can help take your photography into another league.
“Photography often begins with the search for a compelling image – a dramatic landscape, a decisive moment, a striking portrait,” reflects educator, artist and curator Andy Golding ASICI FRPS.
Together with photographer, educator and author Dr Tim Daly FRPS, Golding leads the RPS workshop series Creating Personal Projects, a 12-week online course designed to help photographers create an image series.
“This course will benefit those who are keen to take their photography to the next level,” says Daly. “With mentor support from experienced tutors, you will devise and build your own photographic study.
“Each week we will meet online to look at inspiring photographers and guide your developing project. To support your progress, you will receive two one2one tutorials with your mentor to help you review work in progress and plan your next steps. At the end of the course, you’ll submit your work for review and receive written feedback in return.”
“Developing a photographic project is fundamentally different from collecting individual images,” says Golding. “It asks the photographer to sustain curiosity over time, investigate a subject in depth and accept that understanding rarely arrives fully formed. Ideas emerge through a continual cycle of making, reflecting, researching and making again.”
‘Joo Chiat Road’ from the series Katong-Joo Chiat – Colours of Continuity and Change by Kamsin Kaneto LRPS
Earlier in 2026, Kamsin Kaneto LRPS took part in Creating Personal Projects along with 18 other photographers based in the UK and beyond. Living in Singapore since 2022 following 20 years in Japan, Kaneto creates documentary work shaped by Asian culture.
She joined the course to see how far she could push herself and her photography, sparking a new ambition in the process. “Creating Personal Projects gave me the confidence to think seriously about working towards an RPS Associate Distinction,” she says. “This might be a goal I could achieve.”
She recalls the lightning moment when she began to see the world around her – and her photographic practice – differently.
“Several weeks into the course I remember Andy Golding asking me what it was I wanted to say through my images, what argument did I have to make,” she says. “Until that point, I thought I was taking photos of things I found pretty or interesting, and I wasn’t even sure I knew how to say something through an image.”
‘Joo Chiat Road’ from the series Katong-Joo Chiat – Colours of Continuity and Change by Kamsin Kaneto LRPS
Kaneto began working on a project, Katong-Joo Chiat – Colours of Continuity and Change, in her own neighbourhood in Singapore.
“It's one of the oldest areas in this rapidly developing city-state, with pre-war charm that blends Chinese, European and Malay influences, and is now also full of trendy cafés and boutiques,” she says. “I wanted to capture the colours, unique details and creative energy of the place, but also the pace of change and sense of sadness for things that will soon be gone.
“There's a Japanese phrase – mono no aware – which translates roughly as ‘the impermanence of things’. I interpret it to mean things are beautiful precisely because they won’t last, and that we need to appreciate them while we can. This idea helped to inform and direct the project.
“As it progressed, I decided to shoot only during the first hour of daylight, using the rapidly changing morning light to show off the beauty in transition.”
‘Joo Chiat Road’ from the series Katong-Joo Chiat – Colours of Continuity and Change by Kamsin Kaneto LRPS
Reflecting on how the course affected her practice, Kaneto says, “The biggest change to how I approach photography is thinking about what I actually want to say and understanding that I can use photography to communicate ideas and emotions.
“It also helped me to recognise that the things I find visually interesting aren’t random or unconnected if I slow down and pay attention to what I keep going back to and why.”
From the series Southbank, After the Verdict by Ben Speed LRPS
Alongside Kaneto on the course was Ben Speed LRPS, a London-based photographer working mainly in black-and-white and focusing on street photography, architecture and urban landscape.
His project, Southbank, After the Verdict, focused on the National Theatre and Southbank Centre in his home city.
From the series Southbank, After the Verdict by Ben Speed LRPS
“I’m interested in the stark and sometimes harsh first impressions that Brutalist buildings often give and wanted to use photography to slow that reaction down,” he says.
“The course helped me clarify the difference between having an idea and shaping it into a project. It made me think more carefully about what I was trying to say, not just what I was photographing. It also helped me become more structured in how I edit, sequence and talk about the work.”
As with Kaneto, Speed would like to achieve an Associate Distinction. “I’m a complete convert to working in projects and will carry this approach into my future work and Associate application,” he says.
From the series Southbank, After the Verdict by Ben Speed LRPS
Golding advises anyone thinking about taking the next step on their photographic journey to focus on reflection and ideas rather than the latest equipment.
“Photographers who produce the most compelling projects are rarely those with the most equipment or the most technical accomplishments,” he says. “They are the ones who decided that what they had to say was worth the effort of finding out exactly what that was.
“That journey may begin with a single photograph. Its real value lies in where the next image – and the one after that – takes you.”
Find out more about the online RPS course Creating Personal Projects with Tim Daly and Andy Golding. RPS members receive 25% off RPS workshops.
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