Shadowing Practice: The simple habit to become a better photographer. - Learn English Speaking with Video

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This is a photograph I like a lot, and I believe it's a pretty good introduction to the topic that I want to chat with you about today,

because I was only able to take it thanks to a practice

or habit that I think is fairly simple but needs a continuous reminder.

This applies to myself, I need to constantly remind myself too, and I think it can be quite powerful.

So today I invite you to hang out with me for a bit for a relaxed chat about photography.

Let's go.

Photography, the medium, contains so many things, so let's just specify today's topic a bit.

I'm not really talking about commercial photography or super technical photography.

I'm talking about artistic and documentary photography.

I think that's sort of the right words.

I'm talking about the kind of work that most of the photographers that I look up to produce.

Work that captures moments, documents life, or captures beauty, or something that is captivating in any other sense.

That is what I strive for in my photography.

For many years now, as you might know if you've been following me for a while,

I am in this continuous journey of practicing and improving my photography and I like to reflect on the results.

Which I think is very important because by intentionally reflecting and self critiquing, I tend to find things that I can look out for next time I get the chance.

If I slowly but consistently improve the way I see, the way I compose and such, I should become better?

I think at least however i believe it's good to not only reflect on the result

but also reflect on the process because it's the process

that produces the results

which i reflect on this however i find a bit harder than reflecting on the result

because when i analyze my results they're there to look at

and pick apart however the process to me appears so messy

and random i suppose so many of my photographs that I like were taken somewhat randomly.

Thus, it feels to me like I don't even know what to reflect on there and what to potentially change.

But there's one overarching thing, a way of being, a process, or one could even say a habit,

that I think is a good guiding force that can shape the process and potentially change it in a positive way.

And that is to actively decide to notice.

Now, hear me out.

This sounds much simpler and more mundane than I personally think it actually is.

It sounds so simple, just notice things, and I think to myself, yeah, sure, I'll make sure to notice stuff and look out.

But when I reflect on my day -to -day, I notice that I'm wrong.

I do not really look out and notice.

it's a fine sunny day and i need to do something in town

so i take the tram into town

when i walk out the door one of the first things

i do is stuff these little things into my ear to play music

or maybe a youtube video like the one you're watching now to listen to someone talk into my ear

then once i get to the tram station and see on the screen

that the tram is going to come in three minutes, what do I do?

Three minutes shouldn't be an agonizingly long wait, right?

Well, we live in this time when people of my age, and maybe above my age too, but I don't know, I feel more confident in saying this about my generation and younger people,

I have this habit.

My hand, sort of automatically, without thinking about it or choosing to,

will glide down into my pocket and grab this slate here

and just as smoothly just glide back into my view and

my eyes and the screen lock that is not surprising

or unnatural in fact i'd argue it's very natural

because my brain at least loves to soak up information about topics i'm interested in this information can be shallow

or deep that doesn't really matter too much what matters is

that it's stimulating i think our brains are incredible in this funny way where it's natural

that this kind of stimulation will tickle the brain in the right way causing this habit

while the same brain becomes self -aware and notices

that about itself i find that funny and

so i stand there for three minutes taking in something sometimes quite useful

and admittedly sometimes times rather useless

but it's only three minutes you know that's all right isn't it well i'd say it's not problematic

but let's get back to photography in those three minutes

that i sort of logged off the real world

and logged into a virtual one things around me happen admittedly usually not much nothing particularly interesting

but sometimes it can very well be utterly interesting but

if i'm distracted by some higher stimulation i'll probably not notice it'll fly right past me

by the way may i present to you a work in progress this is my new website

that i have at last been redesigning bitbobbit it's not quite done yet there's still some work to do

but in the process of working on this, I was reminded of how easy and actually quite fun it is to do this in Squarespace.

So shout out to them.

If you need a website for anything, Squarespace is the place to make it.

You can make an online shop, a membership, a freelancer's booking page, all sorts of things, whatever you need.

And it's easy.

You can choose to start off from one of their many professionally designed templates or just start from scratch.

With their drag and drop editor editing the website is intuitive and easy.

If you need a big head start you can use their AI tool

which will build you a website based on your description.

They are an all -in -one platform

so you can also register your own domain name with them

and they give you analytics to track the activity on your page.

For someone like me who isn't a web designer or coder

or anything close to that Squarespace is perfect

because they make this process easy while allowing me to have creative freedom

which i think is pretty cool try it out for yourself

you can head to squarespace .com for 14 day free trial and then

when you're ready to launch your website you can go to

squarespace .com slash teo crawford to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain

all right speaking about these moments that might just fly past me

if i was on my phone i want to show you a photograph that is a good example.

This is a photograph I took in exactly this kind of situation.

Behind the camera was me at a bus stop waiting for a bus.

Luckily on this day I was not alone.

Melly was with me and so I say luckily because that is why I was not on my phone.

I was just there existing.

We weren't talking as far as I remember.

It was one of those moments when you're just going somewhere

and doing something together and existing next to each other for a moment

but not necessarily engaging in a conversation as we waited for

the boss i noticed a sliver of light on the street it was the last bit of sunlight on

that day coming from a low angle

and moments later this cyclist passed at the bus station

because i was already aware of the sliver of light i could estimate

that there was a decent chance that this cyclist would pass right through the night

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so maybe I could get a photograph of that moment.

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And that is this shot.

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It's one of my favourite shots from that year.

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This was back in 2023 I believe.

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Obviously I understand

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that I am very lucky to be from the gorgeous country

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of Austria where I get to look at a spectacular view like this one

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while waiting for the bus which arguably at least partially makes the photograph.

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However I would like to encourage you to look beyond that

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and focus on the point I'm making which is the sliver of light

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and the cyclist and the fact that i was not distracted

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and thus anticipated this scene

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which allowed me to capture it i don't know where you're from there's a high chance

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that you will not have a pretty mountain in the background on waiting for a bus

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but maybe something else that is pretty and if not that's also fine

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because i'm sure you do have pretty lighting at least sometimes

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which i'd say is what really makes this photograph this shot would not be remotely as interesting without the cyclist

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and the lighting.

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Anyway the point I'm making is

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that this shot was only taken thanks to the fact

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that I was not distracting myself

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and recently I have caught myself habitually reaching for my phone again

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when outside and I'm sure that I've at least missed out on one photograph

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and I'm now making an effort again to self -observe

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and stop myself and just be more present even

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when waiting for the tram even if it gets boring

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because I want to actively choose to be capable of noticing

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because I believe this will make me a better photographer

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and maybe this applies to you too thus I'm making this

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video to share my recent thoughts with you in case you too feel like this is something

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that you want to work on and need a reminder just like like I do.

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So I'm keeping this rather present in my mind, but also, I know myself.

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I know how powerful habits are, so I need to actually also physically make some sort of change.

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I don't need to do anything extreme, I know that a small change can do a lot for me.

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So what I'm going to be doing now, when I head out into town, is to not have my phone in my - pocket but instead put it in my bag or in my backpack.

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Somewhere where reaching it takes just a bit more effort than

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that habitual hand gliding down into the pocket and coming up again.

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I think simply interrupting that mechanism can probably change a lot.

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So that is what I'll be doing.

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I don't know if this was useful to you because maybe you don't struggle with this at all.

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But if you're still watching, I hope you found something in this video useful.

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That's all I wanted to chat about with you today.

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Before saying goodbye, I would like to say a massive thank you to the lovely people supporting me

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and my work on Patreon.

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If you're interested in my color grading lot, my Lightroom presets, or deep dive videos, tutorials and stuff like that for editing and color grading,

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you can check out my page via the link in the description.

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With that said, I hope to see you again soon.

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Until then, goodbye.

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Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 148 sentences and 1885 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:06. The speaker talks at a natural 170 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
photography noun	/fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fi/	The art and technology of producing images on photosensitive surfaces, and its digital counterpart.
reflect verb	/ɹɪˈflɛkt/	To bend back (light, etc.) from a surface.
photograph noun	/ˈfoʊ.təˌɡɹæf/	A picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc.
habit noun	/ˈhæb.ɪt/	An action performed on a regular basis.
cyclist noun	/ˈsaɪ.klɪst/	A person who rides a cycle, especially a bicycle, or who habitually engages in cycling.
topic noun	/ˈtɑpɪk/	A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest.
pocket noun	/ˈpɑ.kɪt/	A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
capture verb	/ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/	To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem.
distract verb	/dɪˈstɹækt/	To divert the attention of.
potentially adverb	/pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/	In a manner showing much potential; with the possibility of happening in a given way.
log noun	/lɔɡ/	The trunk of a dead tree, cleared of branches.
remind verb	/ɹəˈmaɪnd/	To cause one to experience a memory (of someone or something); to bring to the notice or consideration (of a person).
domain noun	/ˌdəʊˈmeɪ̯n/	A geographic area owned or controlled by a single person or organization.
edit verb	/ˈɛdɪt/	To change a text, or a document.
goodbye	/ɡʊdˈbaɪ/	Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
look out verb	To be vigilant and aware often as an imperative to alert a person to danger.
check out verb	To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come up verb	To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.
get back to verb	Return to (an activity)
log off verb	Synonym of log out.
look up to verb	To show respect or admiration for (someone); to see (someone) as a role model.
pick apart verb	To review or analyse in great detail
walk out verb	To stage a walkout or strike.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 41 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, don't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, stimulation /stɪm.jʊˈleɪ.ʃən/, partially /ˈpɑɹʃəli/, shout /ʃaʊt/
Long words — get the stress right: photography /fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fi/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, photographer /fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fɚ/, continuous /kənˈtɪn.juː.əs/, stimulation /stɪm.jʊˈleɪ.ʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like photography, reflect, photograph.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: The simple habit to become a better photographer. - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?