my bid to become a technically masterful photographer is coming along slower than I'd hoped

I biked out to Beaverton to find some fences. There are many out there! I think I might need to get this camera adjusted or something. The exposure seems to be off possibly? At least I remembered my yellow filter this time. On second look, these aren't so bad. They're just not what I expected/hoped for (lots of tonal values in darker areas, but this was a bright summer day. What do you expect? Maybe I could try to figure out how to get lots of tonal values in highlight areas.)