10,000 Hours Deliberate Practice Learning the Art of Photography
March 2026
This journal records my actual mastering photography through 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, and this page record the section that occurred in March 2026
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club, zoom lecture from Chris Shepherd, “Looking Local”
30th March 2026
Hours 10,654 to 10,660
(2h) editing images from the Apatanti Trip
(2h) practicing my presentation for this evening
(2h) giving the presentation: “100 Years of Surrealism, 10,000 hours of photography and an F Panel” to the Amersham Photographic Society. This was well received and I was commended for my subject knowledge and the quality of my panel
(1h) updating this journal, mainly with links from the Apatani Trip
29th March 2026
Hours 10,650 to 10,653
(1h) transferring images from the last 2 weeks’ Apatani trip from laptop top PC and Capture One to Lightroom
(1h) updating this journal
(½h) YouTube: “A Day of Street Photography With Paul Harrison” who calls himself a surrealist street photographer working in art galleries spotting visitors in ironic juxtaposition with the paintings or sculptures they are viewing
(1½h) reviewing and practicing my talk for tomorrow evening
28th March 2026
Hours 10,646 to 10,649
(4h) at Guwahati airport and on planes home editing and processing images from the last 2 weeks street photography course with Mark Seymore, primarily photographing the Apatani tribe at the annual Myoko festival – long short-list of 169 “keepers” out of the more than 8,000 exposures made during the last 2 weeks
27th March 2026
Hours 10,644 to 10,645
(½h) shooting on an early morning elephant safari
(1½h) editing and processing images from the last couple of days
26th March 2026
Hours 10,642 to 10,643
(1½h) shooting en route making our way towards Guwahati and then in the village near the hotel, including:
“Rural Cafe in Assam”, above
“Young Rural Village Women”, left
“Pair of Village Women”, below
(½h) editing the day’s images
“Emaciated Man – Assam”
“Old Man at Home – Assam”
25th March 2026
Hours 10,636 to 10,641
(1h) shooting first thing in the morning, including
“Woman Spinning Cotton”, right
“Apatani Women at Home”, below
(1h) editing, and some processing of, shots from the last few days
“Monk and Elder in Ashram”
(2h) shooting during the day, including: “Ashram Incense”, above and “Assam Boat Men” below:
(2h) editing and processing shots from yesterday and today
24th March 2026
Hours 10,630 to 10,635
(1½h) intensive shooting first thing in the morning, including:
“Sharing a Smoke”, left, (they said it was just tobacco, our fixer was not convinced
“Work and Rest”, below
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s 462 images
(1½h) shooting later in the day:
“Winnowing”, left
“Weaving on a Ground Loom”, below
(2h) further editing and some processing
“Apatani Boat”, above
“The Longest Bamboo Bridge”
23rd March 2026
Hours 10,628 to 10,629
(1h) intensive shooting at the start of the day (+ a bit later), including:
“Apatani Behind Barred Window”, above
“Shaman Smoking”, right
(1h) editing and processing the day’s 482 images
22nd March 2026
Hours 10,623 to 10,627
(1h) editing and processing images from the last few days
(2h) intensive shooting in Ziro and at the Myoko festival including
“Metallica Hoodie and Safety Sandals”, left
“Myoko Attendees”, below
(2h) editing and processing the 842 images shot during the day
21st March 2026
Hours 10,619 to 10,622
(1½h) shooting with Mark Seymore in the Nyishi village where a politically sponsored festival was underway. We sat in the auditorium then went behind the scenes
(1h) editing images from this morning and editing and processing some images the last couple of days
(1½h) image review with Mark Seymore
20th March 2026
Hours 10,613 to 10,618
(1h) editing and processing the telephoto images from the last few days
(3h) shooting with Mark Seymore, et al. including the 3 images of a severely disabled Apatani woman at her home; above, left and inside the home below
(1½h) editing and processing the morning’s 458 images – 375 deleted in the first pass
(½h) shooting another 113 images
Apatanti shaman performing a ritual involving the sacrifice of a small chick
Old Apatani dancer leaning over a wall
19th March 2026
Hours 10,606 to 10,612
(½h) image editing and processing
(3h) shooting 341+ images of the Apatani women working in the rice fields and at home:
“Apatani Rice Field Worker”,
“Apatani Woman at Home”
“Apatani Women Working”
“Today’s Apatani Men”
(1½h) editing and processing the day’s images
(1½h) image review with Mark Seymore
(½h) post-review image processing
18th March 2026
Hours 10,603 to 10,605
(½h) image editing and processing
(1h) shooting at a tea plantation:
“Picking Tea in Assam”, above
“Assam Tea Picker”, right
“Riding Through the Village”, below
(1½h) editing and processing the day’s images
17th March 2026
Hours 10,599 to 10,602
(2h) shooting at a local festival that we just happened to be passing and got invited into, then later at a village on the way to Ziro “Note the Cricket Bat”
(2h) editing and processing the day’s images
16th March 2026
Hours 10,592 to 10,598
(½h) further editing and processing of yesterday’s images – keepers reduced to 31
(2h) street photography with Mark Seymore at the most sacred Kamakhya Temple including:
“Kamakhya Purification and Devotion”, above
“Meditation at the Kamakhya Temple”, left
“Kamakhya Temple Queue”, below
(1h) street photography alone; “Guwahati Feet” below
(1h) editing the morning’s images 702
(2h) image review with Mark, including discussion of the Kamakhya Temple Woman image:
My crop, left
Mark’s below
Basically the difference between portrait and environmental portrait
(½h) further editing and processing of today’s images
15th March 2026
Hours 10,587 to 10,591
(1h) researching Kandinsky and his analysis of abstract art
If the emotional power of the artist can overwhelm the ‘how?’ and give free scope to his finer feelings, then art is on the crest of the road by which she will not fail later to find the ‘what?’…. This “what” is the internal truth which only art can divine, which only art can express by those means of expression which are hers alone.”
Wassily Kandinsky – Concerning the Spiritual in Art – 1914
“Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the hammers, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand which plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
(1h) collating images for the “Winter 2025/26” post and creating the Flickr album, right
10th March 2026
Hours 10,576 to 10,578
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) reviewing the “100 Years of Surrealism, 10,000 hours of photography and an F Panel” presentation
(2h) representing Stoke Poges at the 5 Clubs competition against Maidenhead, Windsor, Marlow & Woodley. We came joint second against fierce competition from an excellent field of images. My personal images didn’t fare so well:
Image
…..
Comment
“Chameleon Catching Worm” 15 Looks natural, but lacks theatre which might have been achieved with a more dramatic camera angle
“Dead Vlei Namibia” 15 White sand is a little over exposed
9th March 2026
Hours 10,573 to 10,575
(2h) finishing the slides and notes of the F Panel section of the “100 Years of Surrealism, 10,000 hours of photography and an F Panel” presentation
8th March 2026
Hours 10,571 to 10,572
(2h) researching Max Ernst’s 1937 “Fireside Angel” which fits well into my “100 Years of Surrealism, 10,000 hours of photography and an F Panel” presentation
7th March 2026
Hours 10,568 to 10,570
(2½h) updating the sub-genres and F Panel sections of the “100 Years of Surrealism, 10,000 hours of photography and an F Panel” presentation
(½h) YouTube:
Shawn Grenier | The Canvas: “The Failure of Surrealism” – analysis of Max Ernst’s 1937 “Fireside Angel” which highlights the movement’s failure to halt the rise of fascism
(½h) editing and processing the morning’s images, including “Trapezoid Alpine Portal”, right
(1h) revising the “100 Years of Surrealism, 10,000 hours of photography and an F Panel” presentation
5th March 2026
Hours 10,564 to 10,565
(½h) shooting first thing in the morning – fairly misty
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s images, including 2 B&W ICM/ Straight composites: “Horizontal Alpine Slice”, above
(½h) updating this journal
4th March 2026
Hours 10,562 to 10,563
(½h) shooting ICM images first thing in the morning
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s images, including the “Alpine Slice” ICM/ Straight composite
Constructive painting falls into two divisions:
“melody”, regulated according to a simple and obvious form
“symphony”, complex composition of various forms, subjected more or less completely to a principle form. The principle form may be hard to grasp outwardly and for this reason has a strong inner value. Wassily Kandinski, “Concerning the Spiritual in Art”
Leave a Reply