On a mission to stretch myself photographically, I signed up for one of Gill Moon’s project-based workshops.
The summer project sounded interesting and was aimed at creating triptychs, which I thought could help me better learn how to put images together and also enhance my skills at compiling small bodies of work.
This workshop could also help me with creating panels for club competition as I would not be entering this year due to a feeling of not really knowing how to compile and combine a set of images in a cohesive way.
Running over six weeks (June-July 2026] with a weekly group Zoom meeting and very detailed and supportive notes, participants are asked to create and submit a triptych using the creative theme of that week.
We are also taught how to write and practice forming an artist statement to accompany our triptychs.
The end goal is to create or select our best or favourite triptych that meets the theme (Summer) and this will feature in a private Zine that Gill creates and prints a personal copy for all participants.
Week 1 – Summer scenes – creating diptychs
On our first Zoom, we did introductions and it was interesting to meet other photographers and get an initial sense of their photographic experience what their speciality is before we made a start.
Gill then ran through the workshops aims and the aims and objectives and she then said we were to create a diptych for the week 1 work.
Gill showed a lot of examples of her diptychs and triptychs which are all lovely and a recommendation to use the colour grading tool in Lightroom. Also, and throughout the course, Gill provides references to other photographers where we can draw on ideas and inspiration from other sources.
So the week 1 challenge was to create a diptych, one with a landscape view and another with a close-up view.
Luckily, I had an idea already as it was poppy season and the photography jungle drums were rumbling for a location in North Norfolk where the poppies were particularly good.
Kathryn was keen so after some difficulty locating the right place, we parked up and walked up to the location.
I was rocking my Z7 and a recently acquired Vintage lens, the Helios 44-2 58mm manual focus lens, and it was fun to both try a manual focus lens and capturing some images that may work together.
After many shots, I got home and played around on my iPad using the PicCollage app to mock up some diptychs before submitting my first creative effort (see below):
On the next Zoom call, the feedback was:
- Could I have got down lower to get more of the field and less of the sky?
- Use radial filter to bring out areas of light over the foreground and mid-background, and maybe introduce a little blue into the latter.
Having never used the colour grading wheels in Lightroom before, this was a tool I would need more practice with as it had taken me quite a while to try and get the colour blends to work.
Week 2 – Summer in detail – working with shallow depth of field and bokeh
The challenge this week was to work with longer focal lengths and shoot at wider apertures to achieve blur in our photos.
We talked about images that work together, image flow and aspect ratios, as well as a story to portray.
I was quickly developing a preference for square 1:1 ratio which is the popular choice for such output, and with my struggle with capturing flowers, Gill said beach shots worked well and suggested I use my 100-400mm lens (we both shoot Nikon hence familiarity).
We talked about wide apertures and bokeh which really appealed to me – what no one would know was I went down a little rabbit hole researching bokeh photography and vintage lenses.
We also talked about the challenge of horizons and how challenging it can be to put several images together with horizons because if they don’t line up, the final output can look off.
Kathryn and I went to Pakefield and after paying our respects to her late Mum in the churchyard, we wandered down to the beach where I started taking images.
I captured a shot of a boat there with bokeh balls in the foreground which I was so thrilled with and proud of capturing. I hadn’t realised until I was on this course that you shoot towards the sun.
My submitted triptych is below:
The feedback was as follows:
- The triptych works and has a common theme of red
- Left-hand image: Not the best flower shot
- Central image: Capture image without shingle but keep grasses as frame.
- Right-hand image: Could the boat be high to be level with post and flowers, less of background more of foreground.
I appreciated the feedback and my main learning point was that I spent so long slapping myself on the back for the bokeh shots, I didn’t think about the other two images.
The flower shot was dismal but I had hardly any others to choose from. This is where the common advice of trying to be intentional and mindful of what you want to capture comes into play.
Still love those bokeh balls though…! 👌🏻😁
Week 3 – Summer in colour – thinking about colour as a single entity, as contrasts or as harmonious combinations
This week’s challenge was to submit three separate images labelled 1, 2 and 3 with a common colour connection.
Gill explained a single colour (especially green) works well including backlit leaves or bracken, and it’s good to get different tones for depth.
We were also introduced to dark and light photo combinations and how they can complement each other.
I was fascinated by the recommendation to use a longer lens but it made sense when Gill said that more detail could be capture with a longer lens than say a macro lens due to the focal plane differences.
We also talked about the use of negative space and how that can add to the aesthetics of images.
I said to Kathryn I need to think of somewhere with lots of flowers and she suggested Plantation Gardens in Norwich.
We went there and again, I rocked the same kit, grabbed loads of shots in 1:1 squares and got back to play with some triptych ideas, with the one below being my submitted work:
The feedback was:
- These images work well together
- The outer images provide balance and allow centre image to feature
My own reflection was that I would’ve liked a little more variety in the outer two images as they’re a bit “samey”.
Week 4 – The emotion of Summer – what does it feel like?
This week’s objective was to create a triptych that conveys mood or emotion, which Gill acknowledged was a real challenge.
Either we put ourselves into the mindset of an insect to explore what the world looks like to them, or use weather, light and colour to convey an emotion.
We were to provide some text with our triptych to describe what emotion we felt.
I must admit, this week’s challenge felt hard and what’s all this emotions stuff? Talking about feelings? WTF? Blokes don’t express these things do they? What would my Dad think of me? 😁
Kathryn and I had a day out together for our wedding anniversary and visited somewhere neither of us had been to before, Fairhaven Gardens.
Fairhaven Gardens contains not just gardens but a large area of woodland at the end of which you reach the Broad and can take a short boat trip on the Broads which we did.
I created quite a lot of concept triptychs, some of which I share below:
I didn’t know it at the time, but it would be here where I would bag the images for my final triptych – see below.
The narrative alongside this was… “This triptych encapsulates the feeling of relaxation but also presents a summer view of woodland in all its lush and green vibrancy.
Feedback (which has already been applied to the above final edit) was:
- Triptych gives a green Summer vibe
- Areas bottom of RH image to brighten
- Is the RH image too distracting? Does it lead your eye in too quickly?
It was a good feeling to have plenty of images and possible triptychs in my collection.
Week 5 – Re-imagining the Summer through altered reality
Altered reality meant using a technique such as:
- Long exposure
- Multiple exposure
- ICM
- Using reflection or distortiom
- Use of post-processing
Kathryn and I had a summer early evening visit to Cromer so I set about trying to grab some multi-exposure shots to see what I could come up with.
The following two triptychs emerged. The first one uses a three shot image of a gull and due to the colour of the pier telescope, I tried to follow a blue theme.
This next one was a beach hut and pier set using ICM.
Both of these did make my shortlist for the final piece but certainly the blueish set did not shout “Summer” to me.
We had a chat about starting to think about our final triptych, either from work already done, or new work.
Week 6 – recap
The final session was to look at everyone’s triptychs recently created and a reminder of the final piece of work to be submitted for publication to the Zine.
We had a reminder of the construct of an artist’s statement and the themes from the workshop weeks from which we choose to focus on for our final triptych.
I then spent time reviewing my triptychs more than trying to shoot more images and creating new ones.
A selection of my triptych creations are below:
I surprised myself in terms of how many triptychs I created over the duration of the course.
Summer Project Zine
Gill produced the Zine super quick and I was delighted with the quality of print and proud to see my triptych and feature in it alongside all the other interesting outputs from the group.
It’s really nice to have something as a souvenir or memento to keep and look back at what you created. I’ve taken some phone images below of my pages within the Zine. Please ignore the yellow cast which was from my living room lights.
Post-course Reflections
I really enjoyed this course and Gill’s guidance and advice – she made herself available for advice and help throughout the course.
It was great to meet new photographers and really interesting to see their outputs.
The only challenge I had which was outside of Gill’s control was time to capture images. Some weeks, I had just one day of a weekend and I put a lot of pressure on myself to get images for a triptych.
As photographers, we will be well aware that your best work does not necessarily arrive when you’re in a hurry.
I would highly recommend this project course run by Gill. In fact, I’ve signed up for the Winter Project where I shall have a lot more time to photograph.
Onwards and upwards…