This journal records my actual 10,000 hours deliberate practice mastering fine art photography.
Hours 8,154 to 8,234
30th November 2023
Hours 8,231 to 8,234
(2h) creating the third attempt at the “Pleasure Principle” image, right, and a first stab at the “False Mirror”, below, which I think is positively scary
(½h) shooting the Thames Valley Heartbeat presentation of a public access defibrillator to the Slough Irish Club
(½h) processing the TVH images for use in their publicity
(1h) curating the top 10 images for a “Autumn 2023” post
29th November 2023
Hours 8,229 to 8,230
(1h) processing the images shot yesterday
(1h) curating images for the “Navada, Utah & Colorado” travel book of this summer’s adventure for Fran’s Christmas present.
28th November 2023
Hours 8,227 to 8,228
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – Macro workshop – practice using my macro lens on the a99ii and ring flash combo:
- “Seed Case”, right
- “Hard Game of Table Football”, below
27th November 2023
Hours 8,223 to 8,226
(2h) processing images from York
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – PDI competition. My entries below:
26th November 2023
Hours 8,221 to 8,222
(1h) Morning Street Photography, again looking for interiors of building that might be useful in future composites
(½h) editing and processing this morning’s images in Capture One
(½h) updating this journal
25th November 2023
Hour 8,220
(½h) processing the “King’s Arms Empty Interior” image below for potential use as the background in a Magritte Composite – it has a disquieting feeling about it
(½h) updating this journal
24th November 2023
Hour 8,219
(1h) morning street photography including the King’s Arms Interior, below, shot through the window following its closure due to flooding
23rd November 2023
Hour 8,218
(½h) preparing and submitting PDIs for next Monday’s competition at the Amersham Photographic Society
(½h) updating this journal
22nd November 2023
Hours 8,216 to 8,217
(1½h) processing the “Pleasure Principle” image right/ Still very much a draft, rough round the edges but getting closer to the objective
(½h) updating this journal and associated social media
21st November 2023
Hours 8,213 to 8,215
(1h) shooting further versions of the “Pleasure Principle” image
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – Print Competition – Set Subject: “Multicoloured” by entries below:
20th November 2023
Hours 8,209 to 8,212
(1h) shooting in Stock Common early in the morning
(1½h) editing and processing images, including the “Four Reeds – One Broken”, left, which caught the morning light
(½h) updating this journal and social media
(1h) Amersham Photographic Society – North West Fed competition against High Wycombe and Field End; Amersham won and are into the second round. Over surprisingly quickly in just over an hour. The judge, Lloyd Moore
19th November 2023
Hours 8,207 to 8,208
(1½h) processing yesterday’s images to create the image below, which clearly needs to be worked on to be more representative of Magritte’s, 1937 original, right: “The Pleasure Principle (Portrait of Edward James)”:
- Hand position
- Mystery item on desk
- Overall lighting
However, the landscape format matches the “Magician” image of the man with four arms eating dinner, i.e., “Surrealist Dinner”
(½h) updating this journal
18th November 2023
Hours 8,205 to 8,206
(1h) Editing the Wave Experiment images, lowering the colour temperature of the waves to make them more blue and the foam appear whiter; and in some cases increasing the colour temperature of the wall slightly to make it warmer. Adjustment -10 and +10 respectively.
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(1h) shooting a version of René Magrite’s, 1937, “Pleasure Principle”, the original being a portrait of Edward James
17th November 2023
Hour 8,204
(1h) creating a couple of the Sea Wall Experiment images
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16th November 2023
Hours 8,201 to 8,203
(1h) updating journal and creating a new Sea Wall Experiment
(2h) Amersham PiC group presenting both my unsuccessful and successful A Panels
15th November 2023
Hours 8,197 to 8,200
(1h) experimenting with Photoshop’s AI functionality for blending composites and adding shadows to the “Chess Nightmare” image
(1h) Amersham Coffee Group
(2h) Lecture at the RAC Club in Pall Mall by Gandee Vasan wider version of his TEDx presentation about creating images that sell, also covering his background as a portrait painter. Key points about the stock photos that sell:
- clearly depict positive words such as: growth, performance, speed, strength, transformation, etc.
- the image that is 5% better will get 100% of the sales
14th November 2023
Hours 8,193 to 8,196
(1h) more Sea Wall images
(1h) YouTube: Perspective “The Divine Comedy: How Dante Provided A New World Theory” things I did not know:
- written over 13 years from 1308 to 1321 by Dante Alighieri
- describes his journey through the afterlife first with his friend Virgil through purgatory and the inferno (hell), then with Beatrice through paradise (heaven)
- the inferno has levels of hell where crimes are rated based on the level of intentionality, e.g., lust is considered less punishable than flattery as it is less under the control of the individual. Worst of all is treachery, in particular treachery to one’s lord. The fact that the individual is responsible for their actions is central to the work
- paradise is also arranged in layers but these resemble the planets; as Dante progresses through the heavens: “Beatrice looks more beautiful the closer one gets to god”
- the influence of the work is vast including T.S Eliot’s “The Waste Land”
(½h) preparing the PDIs for next week’s print competition at Stoke Poges Photographic Club
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – presentation by Ken Grant on “Removing Distractions in Photoshop” where he demonstrated the new AI tools, which are amazing!
13th November 2023
Hours 8,190 to 8,192
(1h) writing up this journal
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – my first print competition as a member of the Advanced Section
12th November 2023
Hours 8,187 to 8,189
(1½h) creating new Fade Experiment pictures, and getting these printed along with the photo of Bryan from Windermere which involved writing a new photoshop action for which I found the following shortcuts useful:
- <command> “[” or “]” to move the currently selected layer down or up in the stack
- <option> “[” or “]” to select the layer below or above the current selection
Using these commands tends to make actions more flexible and less ambiguous as the record function will otherwise refer to the name of the layer, e.g., “select Layer 2” which does nothing if there is no layer called “Layer 2” when the action is applied
Researching Linda Wevill who presented to the Amersham Photographic Society – but sadly I missed it – she does a lot of double exposure images like the sea wall series I’m ding at present
(1½h) watching “Klimt & the Kiss” at Pinewood Studios which introduced me to the other key work, his “Beethoven Frieze”
11th November 2023
Hours 8,184 to 8,186
(2h) further Fade experiment images
(1h) YouTube:
- Duncan Clarke: “The Philosophy of Colour“
- Art-Facts “Edward Hopper“
 | “South Carolina Morning” (1955) Notwithstanding the inclusion of the subject, woman in red dress, it reminds me of his 1951, “Rooms by the Sea” which he described as a self-portrait – detailed in my post “Most Influential Photographers and Other Artists” and remarkably not included in this documentary | |
 | “Two Comedians” – his last painting made in 1966 just 2 years before his death Depicts his wife and him bowing out in a very deliberate manner. It is perhaps an omission that It was not included in my post “Last Paintings of Modern Artists” |
10th November 2023
Hours 8,182 to 8,183
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) creating some “Fade Experiment” images
9th November 2023
Hours 8,177 to 8,181
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) Hiroshi Sugimoto exhibition at the Hayward Gallery London. “Theatres”, left, were all shot from the back of the cinema with only the light from the screen illuminating the building’s interior.
(1h) working on my “Chess Nightmare” image
(2h) Second Round of the North West Federation inter-club competition Stoke Poges against ImageZ
Minor Success Note:
- My two prints, below, were awarded Stars in the North West Fed competition. I was pulled aside by the judge, Micki Aston, at the break who told me I was doing very good work which I should continue.
| Image | ….. | Comment |
 | “Burford Peril” 20 – Starred Print Admired for it’s surrealist quality, simplicity and lighting | |
 | “Surrealist Dinner” 20 – Starred Print |
8th November 2023
Hours 8,173 to 8,176
(½h) Comic Con trio on Instagram (twice)
(1h) Amersham Coffee group
(½h) preparing prints for Monday’s competition at Amersham Photographic Society
(2h) presentation of my A Panel to the Wycombe Photographic Society along with other members from the Amersham PiC Group
7th November 2023
Hour 8,172
(½h) Comic Con trio on Instagram
(½h) working on the “Afghan Woman” image right:
- cropped to square
- removed the smile
- hardened the lines and facial blemishes
6th November 2023
Hours 8,168 to 8,171
(1h) creating an alternative version of Bryan’s portrait, right
(1h) processing the rest of the best of the Comic Con images
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – Speaker – Dr Ian Wilson ‘File preparation and Printing’ – very good very technical presentation – also on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQvddkg7r5c
5th November 2023
Hour 8,166 to 8,167
(½h) early morning woodland shoot in Windermere
(1½h) transferring images from laptop and memory cards to my main computer and processing the picture of Bryan below to mimic the reference image. Still:
- slightly too much contrast in the black/mid-tones (need to keep shirt white)
- perhaps even more grain to reduce the level of detail
- a tad more of the background pictures showing, if this works
4th November 2023
Hours 8,164 to 8,165
(1½h) shooting Bryan as a replica of the similar photograph of his grandfather made at least 60 years ago. Shooting straight to Capture One Pro using the reference image as an overlay
(½h) first pass processing the above image in Capture One Pro
3rd November 2023
Hours 8,162 to 8,163
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) shooting my “Dystopian Chess” image
(½h) first attempt at processing the chess image, which is a bit more challenging than anticipated
2nd November 2023
Hours 8,157 to 8,161
(½h) creating a new Comic Con instagram trio and posting
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) practicing shooting tethered to Capture One for the planned portrait shoot
(1h) watching the Capture One Livestream: “Improve your tethered workflow” and reviewing by 2020 post “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro (Sony)“
(2h) Amersham Beyond meeting, my image right was preferred out of the three I presented
I think perhaps the reason this works is that the highlight from the sun overlaps the main element on the sea wall
I need to know the correct/ technical names for the ironwork in the walls
Lots of interesting work from other people, including on the subject of “grain” where it occurred to me that I might want to add this to the shot of Bryan being made this weekend.
1st November 2023
Hours 8,154 to 8,156
(½h) creating a new Comic Con instagram trio and posting
(1h) updating this site with all the new month admin, including creating a new style of banner, with the subtle curl, above
(1½h) processing and posting further Comic Con images
