This journal records my actual 10,000 hours mastering art photography through deliberate practice.
Hours 8,934 to 9,018
31st August 2024
Hours 9,015 to 9,018
(1h) street photography in Riga including shooting lots of potential texture backgrounds of crumbling brickwork
(½h) editing and processing the day’s images
(1h) visit to:
- Riga Contemporary Art Museum – which sadly between exhibitions, so I merely had a cup of coffee and viewed the modest permanent collection on the ground floor
- Latvian National Museum of Art – where I managed the “Dismantling the Wall” exhibition which tells the story of Latvian art 1985-91, the period leading up to its independence in August 1991
Helena Heinrihsone, 1991, “Figure Skater” depicts Soviet sport as propaganda praising a system that produces strong and healthy members of society “Ready for Labour and Defence”, as the slogan goes. The devilish USSR drags the beautiful Latvia in hellish circles around the ice rink
(½h) updating this journal and “Summer 2024” post
(1h) Riga’s Digital Art immersive experience “Hieronymous Bosch”, a wonderful way to spend nearly an hour exploring a single painting, “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (if “The Temptation of St. Anthony” or other paintings are featured, it is only in a minor way). It is clear how this was an important influence for the Surrealist movement, 400 year later
30th August 2024
Hour 9,014
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) preparing for tomorrow morning’s street photography
29th August 2024
Hours 9,011 to 9,013
Minor Success Note:
- “Magritte Hat Pipe Flower & Cloud”, right, won the PSEA Gold Medal in the 57th EA International Salon of Photography 2024
(1h) inspired by both the success of the image above and a discussion I had yesterday with another member of the Amersham Photographic Society, I created “Insight”, left. The tricky bit was creating a neutral/ central eye, i.e., neither left nor right
(1h) stewarding at the Amersham Photographic Society’s annual exhibition
(½h) working on various aspects of this journal including completing some of the new month admin for September, and identifying Top 10 images of “Summer 2024” and at “9,000 hours – 90% Review“
(½h) updating the “Insight” image, right:
- new background
- eye colouration
28th August 2024
Hours 9,008 to 9,010
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) Amersham Coffee Club
(1h) stewarding at the Exhibition of the Amersham Photographic Society – I have 4 entries this year (everything that I submitted – I should probably have put in more)
27th August 2024
Hour 9,007
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) editing and processing some of the Viking images from the weekend
“Hassan and Oryx”, left is a combination of images from the Viking reenactment last weekend and my recent trip to Namibia. Colour blended using the Photoshop neural harmonisation filter
26th August 2024
Hours 9,005 to 9,006
(2h) finishing and publishing the “Five Hours at the Pompidou Centre” post
25th August 2024
Hours 9,001 to 9,004
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) working on the “Five Hours at the Pompidou Centre” post
(1½h) shooting 278 exposures at the Chiltern Open Air Museum’s Viking Reenactment although actually no shots of the actual battle reenactment which was supposed to be the highlight of the event as the scene was very busy
(1½h) editing and processing the day’s images
24th August 2024
Hours 8,999 to 9,000
(1h) further work trying to create reflections in the orbs using photoshop – coming to the conclusion that the only credible way to create this image is to buy two more orbs
(½h) Sean Tucker YouTubes:
- “Getting the Medium Format look with the Camera you already own”
- goal is both a shallow depth of focus and a wide field of vision
- process take multiple picture (3 for a full-frame camera) and process like a panorama
- “A Motivational Message about Growth for Photographers”
- “Transcend and Include” – strive to change and grow but learn from the journey
(½h) updating this journal
23rd August 2024
Hours 8,997 to 8,998
(½h) updating this journal and Flickr site
(½h) updating “The Pleasure Principle”, right so that the shadows left/right balance. A minor adjustment, that is quite important
(1h) making the “Distorted Voice of Space”, below, which is a reinterpretation of Magritte’s “Voice of Space” using my bird feeder rather than cow bells
22nd August 2024
Hours 8,995 to 8,996
(2h) reprocessing a few images, including simplifying the “Beauty Contest” above, thought to have shock value as “we rarely see male nudes”
This took the bulk of the time to remove the other contestants
ICM images right and below from the Black Park Walk
21th August 2024
Hours 8,992 to 8,994
(1h) processing yesterday evening’s images
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) Amersham Coffee meeting – detailed discussions of my portraits from the weekend:
- best image “Mr Pirate”
- great eyes
- simple colours
20th August 2024
Hours 8,988 to 8,991
(1h) processing the Black Park images and sending an email encouraging attendance
(1½h) leading a photo walk for 10, generally of the more experienced, members of the Stoke Poges Photographic Club
“Old Tree Stump”, above
“Black Park Dream”, left, the result of encouraging experimentation with ICM (further processing above)
“Alex & Odi”, below, after the pair agree to model for us
(1½h) processing the evening’s images
19th August 2024
Hours 8,985 to 8,987
(1h) processing images from yesterday, mainly to send to people who requested them. Some issues with images against a white background having different colour temperatures in different places, i.e., the white wall looked orange at the top and blue at the bottom
(1½h) editing the portraits, mainly of the Chimney Sweep using Sean Tucker’s techniques discovered on 12th February 2012
In the image above, rather than adjusting the colour temperature across the image to make the background wall more even, it was simply blown to white. Which in its own way works pretty well
(½h) shooting at Black Park, planning a route for the walk I’m leading tomorrow, “Across the Lake Black Park”, below
18th August 2024
Hours 8,980 to 8,984
(½h) updating this journal, including images from yesterday
(1h) shooting at the Chiltern Open Air Museum – “Ragged Victorians” event but many of my best images were from slightly over-dressed members of the public –
“Mr Pirate”, right, “dresses like this all the time”
(2h) editing and processing the day’s images
(½h) shooting at Black Park, preparing for the photo walk I’m leading on Tuesday for the Stoke Poges Photographic Society
(1h) processing images to order as prints for Wednesday’s Coffee meeting, which included resizing the Polyptychs for best display
17th August 2024
Hours 8,977 to 8,979
(1h) updating this journal, particularly links and comments regarding yesterday’s images
(1h) shooting the Ragged Victorians [out of 2½ hours elapsed duration]
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
16th August 2024
Hours 8,975 to 8,976
(1½h) creating the following as a result of comments made during Wednesday’s Coffee Club meeting
The conversion to B&W of “Parisian Street in Summer II” makes the structure of the building more graphic, whilst the recropping makes the woman more prominent
“Canary Wharf Time Shift Diptych” – the image was already divided c. 40/60 vertically. Making this division explicit is interesting as the two parts are clearly different, yet have the same rhythm and some overflow of elements, e.g., the trees
“Jardin du Luxembourg II” – recropped, retoned to keep the emphasis in the middle of the image, and subject slightly sharpened – trying to achieve a 1920s style of elegance
(½h) updating this journal
15th August 2024
Hours 8,973 to 8,974
(1h) processing yesterday’s Classic Car images: “Reeking Luxury”, above
(1h) updating this journal
Thoughts on Mark Fisher’s “The Weird and the Eerie” relevant to surrealist art:
- the Weird is defined as the presence of that which does not belong
- the Eerie is characterised by a missing, unseen or unexplained force, sometimes, but not necessarily malevolent
- both are a subtle aesthetic designed to make the viewer/ reader uneasy
- a “liminal space” is a space of transition, where we are waiting with some uncertainty for something to happen
14th August 2024
Hours 8,968 to 8,972
(1½h) shooting a new version of Magritte’s “Son of Man” painting using my new green screen backdrop
(1h) Amersham Coffee club – in depth critique of my recent images by my friend and mentor, Yin Wong
Discussion of my newfound love of the Pompidou Centre, its exhibition on adult comics, and the fact that “Barbarella” was apparently a 1968 film staring Jane Fonda
(½h) shooting at the Gerrards Cross Classic Car Show – “Classic Engineering”, below
(2h) creating the image right, with all it’s problems:
- subject too far right, should be central
- coat collar untidy
- shirt collar over exposed
- apple too small
- apple leave untidy and in the wrong place
13th August 2024
Hours 8,966 to 8,967
(1½h) researching my new artists and updating the “Five Hours at the Pompidou Centre” and “Summer 2024” posts
(½h) auditioning apples, complete with leaves, from our apple tree for a role in a Son of Man
12th August 2024
Hours 8,964 to 9,865
(1h) adding images to the “Five Hours at the Pompidou Centre” post
(½h) ArtForum YouTube documentary “From the Archive: Jenny Holzer“
- solo show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York
- first woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, where she was awarded first prize for the most outstanding pavilion
(½h) research into other new artists including Jean Degottex and Bang Hai Ja
11th August 2024
Hours 8,962 to 8,963
(2h) working on the “Five Hours at the Pompidou Centre” post
10th August 2024
Hours 8,960 to 8,961
(1h) collating and ordering prints of images for next week’s Amersham Coffee club meeting
(½h) YouTube
- Art21: “Jenny Holzer in ‘Protest’“
(½h) updating this journal
9th August 2024
Hours 8,957 to 8,959
(1h) adding images from Paris and the Olympics to this journal
(1h) creating the following panorama of “Jenny Holzer’s 25 Inflammatory Essays” there is a similar installation in the Blavatnik Building of the Tate Modern in London that I have walked past many times (e.g., 14th February 2019). On
(1h) creating the “Poetry and Acrobatics 10-ptych” below which captures the essence of the performance which I assume, being unable to understand the French, related to some dark, existentialist outpouring of ennui
8th August 2024
Hour 8,956
(1h) adding images from Paris and the Olympics to this journal
7th August 2024
Hours 8,953 to 8,955
(1h) at the Amersham Coffee Club where my prints from the Olympics were generally appreciated. It was pointed out that I have recently been making a habit of “taking the type of picture, I don’t usually take”, i.e., wildlife in Namibia or Sport at the Olympics
(2h) further processing images from the Olympics
6th August 2024
Hours 8,950 to 8,952
(1h) updating this journal and creating and organising Flickr albums for the Paris Olympics Trip
(2h) processing images from the Olympics
5th August 2024
Hours 8,948 to 8,949
(1h) preparing prints for Wednesday’s coffee meeting which included processing a couple of the Parisian images
(1h) selecting and preparing images for printing for the Amersham annual exhibition
4th August 2024
Hours 8,945 to 8,947
(1h) updating this journal, including finishing the start of month admin with a enhances shadow on the graphic
(2h) editing and processing images from Paris
3rd August 2024
Hours 8,940 to 8,944
(½h) street photography first thing in the morning – “Running Jardin du Luxembourg”, above
(1½h) writing up the “Five Hours in the Pompidou Centre, Paris” post
(3h) editing and processing images from the last couple of days
2nd August 2024
Hours 8,938 to 8,939
(½h) street photography first thing in the morning
(1½h) shooting diving and then athletics:
- “Inverted Practice”, right
- “Olympic Beauty Contest”, below
1st August 2024
Hours 8,934 to 8,937
(½h) street photography first thing in the morning – love “Jardin du Luxembourg” above, it seems to capture the essence of Paris sophistication
(½h) updating this journal, including the start of month admin
(2h) at the Pompidou Centre – “Rooftops from Inside the Pompidou Centre” below
(1h) shooting Beach Volleyball
