Some of the artistic vision White developed during this time he later applied to his photography. He learned how to use light, or the lack of it, to draw attention to his subject. He also learned how to visualize his subjects in his mind. White's grandson and biographer Maynard Pressley White Jr. noted that among his grandfather's sketches of this time was a drawing of a female nude seated on a large sphere, blowing bubbles from a pipe and surrounded by many floating spheres in the air. This same imagery later appeared repeatedly in White's photography.