Learning to See - The ABC Exercise

Introduction

On Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, 14 members of the Oakville Camera Club participated in a creative and fun “ABC Photography Exercise” while walking along Kerr Street, Oakville.  

What is the ABC Photography Exercise?

In this exercise, instead of photographing actual letters, we look for objects and shapes in the environment that resemble letters of the alphabet. It’s a great way to sharpen your eye for shapes and to think creatively while shooting on the street.  The ABC exercise challenges you to find and photograph anything that looks like a letter — but isn’t an actual letter.  

Here is how a completed exercise looks.  I completed it in the woodlands and ravines of Oakville, as part of a photography course I was taking at Sheridan College. 

This type of exercise is very suitable for other genres of photography, including street photography.  For example, a curved pipe might look like the letter C, a tangle of wires like an E, or a curved railing like an S. You are looking for natural or manmade shapes that remind you of letters but without any text involved.

Why This Exercise?

• Enhances Creativity: It forces you to see the world differently, noticing abstract shapes and patterns.

• Improves Composition Skills: You practice framing and isolating shapes so they look like letters.

• Builds Observation: You become more aware of details and textures in your surroundings.

• Fun Challenge: It turns street shooting into a playful scavenger hunt with a goal.

How to Do the Exercise

• Look Closely: Look up, down, sideways, and all around to spot shapes that resemble letters. Look at architectural features, shadows, signs, branches, or everyday objects.

• Photograph the Letters: When you see a shape that looks like a letter, take a photo of it. You want the shape to be clear and recognizable, but it should not be an actual letter printed or written somewhere.

• Capture A, B, and C: To practice, find and photograph something that looks like the letter A, then B, then C. You can repeat this multiple times to build a full alphabet if you want.

Tips for Success

• Change your perspective: shoot from different angles and distances to emphasize the letter shape.

• Use contrast and light to make the shapes stand out.

• Be patient and experiment with focus and composition.

• Review your photos and see which shapes successfully look like letters to others, too.

Conclusion

The ABC photography exercise is a fun and artistic way to develop your street photography eye by finding letter shapes in unexpected places. It encourages creativity, sharpens your observation, and adds a playful twist to your shooting. Next time you’re out with your camera, give this exercise a try and see the alphabet hidden all around you!