First 250 Hours of Photography – Deliberate Practice

Half way through January 2018 and I’ve now put in 250 hours of what counts and am two and a half percent of my way through the 10,000 hour project learning the art of photography.

To see what I’ve done in detail, please look at my Journal.

I think both my approach to photography and post-processing is improving, and I’ve created some images that I’m happy with.

I’ve learnt a little about colour theory, composition and have discovered some inspirational photographers and artists.

My key post was: “Composition – Early Thoughts” which took a long time to write and good deal of background reading.

From 100 to 250 Hours

Whilst this post is a review of the first 250 hours of qualifying activity, the first 100 hours of activity has already been covered in my earlier post: “The First 100 Hours – Review at 1%”.  So for most of this post I will be concentrating on activities achieved in the last 150 hours, with activities conducted in the first 100 shown in italics.

Overview of Photography Activity

Within the past 150 hours the pace of photography has exceeded the pace of processing and updating of this journal which as left me with a bit of a backlog.  Not least regarding the hundreds of images I took in Canada over the Christmas period.

In addition to the 15 local places I started shooting during my first 100 hours, new locations include:

• Chilliwack – British Columbia
• Vancouver
• Binnings Farm – Shooting the shoot
• Macaroni Farm – Shooting the shoot
• Still life (one image only).

 

Noteworthy Images

See the Gallery

Events Attended

Several meetings of the Stoke Poges Photographic Club.  Most notable event was a lecture by David Boag on Creative Wildlife photography.

 

Tate Modern:

• general exhibition
• Ilya and Emelia Kabakov, exhibition: “Not Everyone will be taken into the Future”
• Modigliani

Vancouver Art Gallery

• Black Paintings or “Entanglements” by Gordon Smith

Books Read

More of “What is Art?” by John Canaday.
Chapters:
7. Composition as Pattern
8. Composition as Structure
9. Composition as Narrative.

“The Canon of Design” – Travis Leaf Glover

“Geometry of Design” – Kimberly Elam

“Picture This, How Pictures Work” – Molly Bang

“The Photographer’s Eye” (original, now superseded) & “The Photographer’s Mind” – Michael Freeman

New Influences

Photography:

• Serge Ramelli – Inspirational
• Paul Mitchell FRPS – local hero.
• Lizzy Shepherd – North Yorkshire based Landscape and Travel Photographer
• Eliot Porter – early US- based Landscape and Nature photographer
• Michael Orton an Abstract Landscape photographer

Post-processing guru’s and Adobe Evangelists:

• Julieanne Kost
• Terry White
• Gavin Hoey
• Laura Shoe

Artists:

• Ilya and Emelia Kabakov
• Amedeo Modigliani
• Gordon Smith
• David Hockney.

Techniques Changed

Experimented with using Lightroom CC whilst in Canada.

Still using a tripod when I go out each morning.

More relaxed about using high ISO values and treating the graininess of the resulting image as a feature rather than a problem.

Thoughts on Art

Thinking much more about minimalism in terms of both composition and colour palette.

Progress on Target Styles

Genres of interest (decreasing priority):

• Landscape Photography – Still the majority of time spent here
• Travel Photography – Trip to Canada: Vancouver & Chilliwack
• Portrait Photography – I took what I thought was a great, edgy, urban photo of Ewan (but it did not do so well in competition on 16 January)
• Abstract Photography – none
• Still Life Photography – some (well one)
• Black and White Photography – Some work from the shooting images
• Street Photography – two short sessions, but some nice images
• Experimental Photography – none
• HDR Photography – none

Aspirations for Next 250 Hours

Key area: Shooting on purpose

• Spend an hour planning tomorrow’s activity today
• Look at images produced by other people on the same subject
• Check weather, if appropriate
• Produce a list of shots I’m aiming to achieve
• Logistics including where to park and what equipment to take.

Areas where I need to gain some experience:

• Convert some of my colour themes into lightroom presets
• Learn to shoot tethered
• Macro
• Practice and write a post on Abstract photography
• Learn to use an off-camera flash properly.

Key Posts

Posts:

• Composition – Early Thoughts
• Review of Autumn 2017

Then from the first 100 hours:

• Competition Strategy
• Returning from Holiday – Merge Lightroom Catelogs
• What is Art? “Emotional Communication” my Flawed Definition
• Shooting Fireworks an Alternative Approach
• Photography for Parkrun: Black Park
• Post-Processing Workflow
• Colour Theory – First Learnings

Related Posts:

• At Zero Hours
• After 100 Hours
• After 250 Hours
• After 500 Hours
• After 1,000 Hours
• The First 2,500 Hours – Review at 25%
• Time Analysis at 3,000 Hours
• The First 4,000 Hours – Review at 40%
• Half Way – After 5,000 Hours
• Two Thirds of an Expert Photographer
• After 8,000 Hours – 80% Review
• 9,000 Hours – 90% Review
• Goal Achieved – Final Review

Social Media Rankings:

• Facebook: 1 like (Thank you Gary)
• Instagram: 1 Follower
• Twitter: No followers
• Flickr: 2 Followers
• 1 Comment on the Parkrun page.

Absolutely no promotion during this period.