forms and structures

This year my photography learning plan is ambitious:  learn to create better B&W, learn to use tripod for night photography, and learn to use external Flash tastefully.

What I've done so far:

• After purchasing a solid tripod and learning the settings of my camera timer, I've managed to start shooting more landscapes at night.
• For B&W, I've put more attention on how light/shadow and texture impacts the image, and have been looking at more B&W photography books to get inspirations and ideas.
• As for using external Flash, I bought myself a nice Nikon SB-700 speedlight as a birthday present, read a few blogs and watched a few youtube videos, but that's about it...

May not look like I've accomplished much, but my latest trip to Chicago did result in a few decent B&Ws and one of them was shot at night (Wrigley building).  So I'll say that my learning plan is still on track?