This journal records the details of mastering photography after 10,000 hour deliberate practice
Hours 10,881 to 10,949
31st July 2026
Hours 10,949 to 10,95
(½h) updating this journal
30th July 2026
Hours 10,946 to 10,948
(1h) preparing, with some amendment, and ordering print for the Amersham Annual Exhibition and next week’s coffee club
(½h) shooting the pepper grinder I bought off eBay in harsh light for inclusion in the “Magritte’s Lost Jockey” image
(1½h) editing and processing the pepper grinder images and inserting the first in the target image
29th July 2026
Hours 10,943 to 10,945
(1½h) finishing and publishing the “Thought on Art: 2026” post
(1h) Amersham Coffee club
- much discussion of the Creative Deep Dents’ YouTube about
- another Sony a1 user told me about the anti-dust function “Shutter When Pwr OFF” in the setup menu, which when enabled closes the shutter when the camera is powered off, so there is less chance of dust entering the camera body when changing lenses – new to me and something I have immediately enabled
(½h) updating this journal
28th July 2026
Hours 10,941 to 10,942
(1½h) first cut of a “Magritte’s Lost Jockey” picture combining images from Windsor racecourse with Dead Vlei, Namibia. the horse and rider were an iPhone shot that requires a lot of work. Now need to add the pepper grinders and curtains
(½h) working on the conclusion of the “Thought on Art: 2026” post
27th July 2026
Hours 10,939 to 10,940
(1h) creating “Dreamy Zebra with Slice of Sky” above, which is a revised version of a previous image that I felt had merit but was criticised on the basis that the blue stripe was unexplained, and the edge of the zebra was a tad unconvincing
(½h) selecting images to print for Wednesday’s coffee meeting and the annual exhibition
(½h) updating this journal
26th July 2026
Hours 10,934 to 10,938
(3h) editing and processing images taken in the Gazebo Studio at the Stoke Poges Horticultural Show yesterday
(1h) writing up this journal including the notes on yesterday’s event
(1h) editing and processing the images that were taken informally, i.e., not paid for
25th July 2026
Hours 10,930 to 10,933
(3h) shooting individual portraits, couples and family groups from a studio created in a gazebo at the Stoke Poges annual Horticultural Show. There from 9:30am to 5:00pm, 3 hours shooting, including set up, testing, configuring and reconfiguring, the equipment:
- my Sony a1 with a 70-200 lens, tethered to my laptop, and with an hdmi output to an external screen (f/11, 1/250, ISO 100)
- Key-light: Godox AD600BM through a large hexagonal softbox (1/4 high to subject’s left)
- Fill-in: Godox AD600BM through a 150 cm, gridded rectangular softbox (1/8 vertical for individuals or couple, high and horizontal for groups, lower power for men)
- Hair light: Godox AD200 with a small diffuser (1/128 behind subjects pointed at back of head)
“Lady Pirate”, left, from the Stoke Poges Players
(1h) first pass at editing the day’s images
Notes:
- black background was great
- posing people with their hands out of shot (couples otherwise put hands on shoulders, etc)
- need a faster memory card in the camera and/ or laptop
- the 3 light set-up worked well
- need a wider angle lens
- big fan to cool the area was very popular
- take water and stay hydrated – this was a problem
24th July 2026
Hours 10,928 to 10,930
(1h) creating a draft “Summer 2026” post and completing with Richard Hambleton and Matt from Creative Deep Dents
(½h) updating “Magritte’s Kiss on Hastings Meadow II”, right
(½h) YouTube:
- Whitney Museum of American Art: “Jennifer Packer: The Eye Is Not Satisfied With Seeing”
(1h) prep for the studio shoot at the Stoke Poges Horticultural Show tomorrow
23rd July 2026
Hour 10,927
(1h) updating this journal with activities from the last few days
22nd July 2026
Hours 10,924 to 10,926
(1h) Adding the E.H. Gombrich element to my “Thoughts on Art: 2026” post
(2h) researching Richard Hambleton including watching the distressing documentary film “Shadowman” which shows the genius of his work despite a self-destructive personality. Compared to his peers, and to the frustration of his agents, Hambleton was just not financially motivated, beyond the needs of his rampant heroin addiction. He was also lived longer:
- Keith Haring – died age 31 from complications from AIDS
- Jean-Michel Basquiat – died aged 27 from a heroin overdose
- Richard Hambleton – died aged 65 of cancer
21st July 2026
Hours 10,922 to 10,923
(2h) adding the Hockney section to my new “Thoughts on Art: 2026” post
20th July 2026
Hours 10,919 to 10,921
(3h) adding examples from my photography to the Creative Deep Dent’s 5 motivations framework in the “Thoughts on Art: 2026” post
19th July 2026
Hours 10,917 to 10,918
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) creating a first draft of a “Thoughts on Art: 2026” post based on the 3 recently read quotes from:
18th July 2026
Hours 10,915 to 10,916
(1h) researching and making a defence for Wassily Kandinsky’s, 1923, Composition VIII being the greatest painting of all time based on Kandinsky’s goal of painting music, totally removed from all objectivism. Technically, Composition VII, a water colour, did this a decade earlier. But the world changed with Composition VIII. Mondrian, Rothko, Pollock, et al., follow in his wake
(1h) reading and studying E.H, Gombrich’s “The Story of Art” which started me thinking about doing another “What is Art?” post
There really is no such think as art. There are only artists.”
E.H. Gombrich, first lines of “The Story of Art”, 1950
The more we generalize about art, the more likely we are to go wrong.”
E.H. Gombrich, “The Story of Art”, 1950, page 630
17th July 2026
Hours 10,913 to 10,914
(1h) discovering and studying (somewhat belatedly) René Magritte’s, 1926, Le Jockey Purdu (lost jockey) which he described as his first surrealist painting
This adds credence to the “100 Years On” phrase in my FRPS Statement of Intent
(1h) writing a Talk/ Exhibition pitch to the Belgian Museum of Fine Arts, the group that includes the Magritte Museum
16th July 2026
Hours 10,911 to 10,912
(1h) blatant self promotion after the RPS’s publication of my 10,000 hour journey to Fellowship, including:
- Instagram post
- creation of a Press Page on this site
(1h) creating “Magritte’s Kiss on Hastings Meadow”, right, on the same theme as the previous version, made a few days ago, but with greater contrast between the day and night component, so that it does look as though the area under the bird has simply been darkened
15th July 2026
Hours 10,909 to 10,910
(1h) Amersham Coffee Club
(½h) changing “Waiting”, left, in response to comments made at the Coffee Club, i.e., straightening the wall at the right of the image
(½h) updating this journal
14th July 2026
Hour 10,908
(1h) creating “Connecting”, Right
13th July 2026
Hours 10,905 to 10,907
(1h) updating this journal and Flickr site
(2h) creating “Seville Alcazar Day and Night” which is a development of a previous picture which just had the clouds
12th July 2026
Hours 10,903 to 10,904
(1h) rewatching yesterday’s YouTube about the 5 categories of motivation behind abstract art
(1h) updating yesterday’s images to make them more impactful, and processing and ordering prints for Wednesday’s coffee club meeting
11th July 2026
Hours 10,900 to 10,902
(2h) creating:
- “Magritte Kiss on Hastings Meadow”, above
- “Magritte’s Dark Thought”, left
(½h) watching the Creative Deep Dents YouTube: “A new way to understand (and like) abstract art. Why does it exist in the first place?“. Based on the book “Understanding Modern Art” (which, I’ve just ordered)
The objective of the abstract artist is not to copy the real world, which is what objective art does, but to enhance the experience of one of the following:
- The Eye: make things more visually interesting
- The Heart: the emotional impact – what the experience feels like
- The Spirit: spirituality, psychology and philosophy
- The Mind: provoke thought by ideas and concepts
- The World: looking at society as a whole and how art can provoke positive change
The question is: which one am I most motivated by?
(½h) selecting images for the Amersham Exhibition
10th July 2026
Hours 10,897 to 10,899
(2h) correcting yesterday’s diptych to produce “Vertical Cut Portal Diptych”, above. This included:
- reorienting everything – easy
- manipulating the path that defined the vector mask controling access to the lover level of the left hand image
- reconfiguring the Inner Shadow layer effects for the blocks on both images, to give the impression that the lower level is being viewed from a more central position
- cutting away the Drop Shadow under the block in the left image to give the impression of access to the lower image
The later two above were achieved by converting the Layer Effects into layers (using the Create Layers command – right click on FX) and manipulating those layers directly
(½h) correcting the Triptych produced on the 3rd, by moving the shadows in the central image
(½h) updating this journal
9th July 2026
Hours 10,894 to 10,896
(2h) creating version of the “Cut Portal” that look more “Cut”, these are using the vector masks that are defined using a path manipulated by the pen tool. This technique is new to me. Ultimately, creating the “Cut Portal Diptych”, below
The problem with the above is that it looks too much like a pair of eyes, at which point it stops being abstract and has failed
8th July 2026
Hours 10,891 to 10,893
(1h) updating this journal and Flickr links
(1h) Amersham Coffee club, much discussion of my recent work and images from the Ziro Valley, including:
- “Family Transport”, above which was applauded for its composition, and I will probably use in next season’s “Speed” set subject competition at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club
- “Two Assamese Village Women”, below
- rearrangement of my portal images created this month into a triptych of portrait images
(1h) creating the triptych below and retouching the image of the Assamese women above
7th July 2026
Hour 10,890
(1h) revisiting images from the Apatani trip in March, editing and processing.
Including
- “Assamese Nightscape”, left
6th July 2026
Hour 10,889
(1h) editing processing and distributing images from yesterday’s family shoot
5th July 2026
Hours 10,888
(½h) shooting at a family event
(½h) updating this journal and associated Flickr site
4th July 2026
Hours 10,885 to 10,887
(2½h) creating new ICM Mantle Portal images including:
- “Cut Evening Portal I” above
- “Five Drops Noon Portal I” below
The image above was created almost by accident as I was trying to create a Lucio Fontana inspired cut from one abstract space to another. The concept of the cut doesn’t really come across above, but I like the idea of the shape hovering over the flat rectangle at the base of the image
(½h) updating this journal and associated Flickr site
3rd July 2026
Hour 10,884
(½h) shooting, editing and processing ICM mantle images first thing in the morning
(½h) creating “Three Dot Morning Portal I”, above
2nd July 2026
Hour 10,883
(1h) shooting, editing and processing ICM mantle images at both noon and evening
1st July 2026
Hours 10,881 to 10,882
(1h) updating this journal with all the new month admin
(1h) Amersham Coffee Club – including review of Mark Seymore’s fabulous Vietnam images
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