This journal records records the detail of fine art photography mastered after 10,000 hours of deliberate practice
Hours: 10,065 to 10,153
30th September 2025
Hours 10,152 to 10,153
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) adding reflections to the “On the Threshold of Liberty” image with extensive use of tilt-shift blur
[Stoke Poges Photographic Club in the evening, Charles Harding Cup and review of past chain images, where it was interesting to note how far my photography has developed in the last 8 year. In 2017/18, (before and slightly beyond), my images lacked definition and were clearly of a lesser quality than the more competent members of the club]
29th September 2025
Hours 10,147 to 10,151
“Hullscapes” by Chris Palmer FRPS
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) processing images for printing for Wednesday’s coffee meeting and resizing the Man and Woman image into an A4 print in 3 paper textures: German Etching (new to me), Photorag (my standard) and Metallic (for the sea)
(2h) working on the shadows of “On the Threshold of Liberty” image, right
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – excellent presentation by Chris Palmer FRPS: “Diversions” which covered a lot of ground with inspiring images
28th September 2025
Hours 10,143 to 10,146
(1h) editing and processing alternative landscape interpretations of some of the inverted Cave images from Postojna Cave
(3h) creating a first draft of my interpretation of Magritte’s 1937 “On the Threshold of liberty”, right, which is itself a vertical version of the 1929/30 original. Liberty is threatened by the artillery in the foreground
In my interpretation, I’m having trouble creating realistic shadows for the cannon – needs more time and patience
27th September 2025
(Return from Slovenia)
Hours 10,140 to 10,142
(1h) updating this journal
(2h) editing and processing images from Slovenia
26th September 2025
Hours 10,138 to 10,139
“Inside the Slovenian National Gallery”
(2h) at the Slovenian National Gallery and Modern Gallery. Some of the more contemporary works impressed me
25th September 2025
Hours 10,136 to 10,137
(½h) shooting on the seafront at Portoroz, including seascapes and some almost abstract pier shots that form the basis of the “Portoroz Morning Triptych” created on 6th October
(½h) at a local gallery in Piran showing the top images from their annual competition. The image, right, “Dream Away” by Monika Slemc Klavzar didn’t win but was one of my favourites and the, almost Escher like, overlapping technique might be applicable to some of my images
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
24th September 2025
Hours 10,134 to 10,135
“Bled St Martin Church”
(1h) shooting over 3 sessions including:
- Misty morning at Lake Bled
- Predjama Castle, including some cannon images for inclusion in a reinterpretation of Magritte’s 1937 “On the Threshold of Liberty”
- Postojna Cave
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
23rd September 2025
Hours 10,131 to 10,133
(1h) shooting around Lake Bled in the morning including some abstracts of a sculpture that formed the basis of composites created on 8th October
(2h) processing images from the last few days
22nd September 2025
Hours 10,128 to 10,130
(1½h) shooting
(1½h) editing and processing the day’s images
21st September 2025
Hours 10,126 to 10,127
(1h) shooting
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images, including a handful of quite interesting abstracts
20th September 2025
Hours 10,124 to 10,125
(1h) shooting
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
19th September 2025
Hours 10,122 to 10,123
(1h) updating this journal
(1h) creating “The Empty Mask” above
18th September 2025
Hours 10,117 to 10,121
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) creating “Lublin Castle (after Herbert Bayer)”, above, as a mono conversion of the “Hands and Eyes of Lublin Castle” created on the 8th
(1h) finishing and publishing the “Summer 2025” post, and updating links to this throughout this journal
(½h) Contemporary Art Issue YouTube: “Is Explaining Your Art More Important Than Making It?“
(2h) Amersham PiC Group meeting – best presentations were from people who, independently, both created a series of abstract prints from macro images of parts of a large sculpture shot on camera phones (in RAW, then processed in Photoshop). Using a combination of multiple exposure and intentional camera movement created abstract images that look like landscapes
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| Dave Manning | Dave and Sue Hillary |
Notes from the Magritte book about his sustaining himself financially through 1942-47 (end of WWII and slightly beyond) by creating forgeries of works by Picasso, etc.
17th September 2025
Hours 10,115 to 10,116
(1h) Amersham Coffee club where my images were discussed:
- deconstructed portraits received a lukewarm reception
- “Hands and Eyes of Lublin” generally liked but needs more of a connection with the background to create a story; also suggested that I try it in B&W (closer to the Herbert Bayer original), see above
(1h) creating “Magritte’s Room”, left which will form the backdrop for other pictures, including “Le Masque Vide” which I have started
“Le Masque Vide” (Empty Mask) suggests that behind every image there is another image. The title is intended evoke the fear of the invisible which is part of the surrealist fascination with the subconscious
16th September 2025
Hours 10,111 to 10,114
(2h) selecting, and occasionally reprocessing, images for the Edwina Chown cup at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club, which is for images shot locally to the village centre
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club: presentation by Alison Jenkins about her work as a professional and then amateur photographer
15th September 2025
Hours 10,107 to 10,110
(1½h) adding the top images and text to the “Summer 2025” post
(½h) at the RPS’s 166th International Photography Exhibition
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society: Speaker – Vanda Ralevska ‘The Story’
14th September 2025
Hours 10,104 to 10,106
(3h) finishing and publishing the “Preparing Prints for Camera Club Competitions” post
13th September 2025
Hours 10,101 to 10,103
(2h) finishing the “The Easy Way” section of “Preparing Prints for Camera Club Competitions” post
(1h) shooting images for blending into the “Fran Rose” picture, right
12th September 2025
Hours 10,098 to 10,100
(1h) creating a new version of my “Deconstructed Model” image, left, with a better ear and a structured background and object separation
(1h) updating this journal, mainly with notes from yesterday’s Kiefer/ Van Gogh exhibition at the Royal Academy
(1h) working on the “Preparing Prints for Camera Club Competitions” post
11th September 2025
Hours 10,094 to 10,097
(1h) updating this journal and drafting the following posts:
- “Winter 2025-26” – placeholder for information about new artists, in this case Scarlet Hooft Graafland, discovered yesterday
- “Preparing Prints for Camera Club Competitions” in response to questions I was asked at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club, yesterday evening
(1h) “Kiefer/ Van Gogh” exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. Quite a small exhibition, only 3 rooms, but several monumental paintings
Right, Anselm Keifer 2007-2014, “Hortus Conclusus”, where it is suggested that the figure at the base is the artist in the yoga corpse pose in which practitioners imagine themselves dead and at one with nature
Both Keifer and Van Gogh have/ had an obsession with Sunflowers as a symbolic gateway to the stars
Below, Keifer’s 2019 reinterpretation of Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” painted in 1889. Note how it fills the entire wall
(½h) preparing prints for this evening’s Amersham Mono Group meeting
(1½h) attending the Mono Group meeting, where as usual there was some high quality work presented across several different genres
10th September 2025
Hours 10,091 to 10,093
(1h) updating this journal
(1h) updating the “Athabasca and Burnt Trees”, right and creating the Magritte style deconstructed self portrait, below
Left, “Deconstructed Self Portrait”
Compare with “Deconstructed Model”, below
(1h) Amersham Coffee Club where I showed a number of recent images and, surprisingly, “Burnt Hilltop”, right was the most popular
I was also introduced to the work of the Dutch surrealist photographer, Scarlet Hooft Graafland, whose “Mesmerising” exhibition at the museum Panorama Mesdag, in The Hague, was attended by my friend Peter Jones
9th September 2025
Hours 10,088 to 10,090
(1h) creating a first draft of Magritte’s The White Race
“Deconstructed Model”, right
I like the concept, but it needs a lot of work in practice, not least a better ear!
(1h) YouTube: “Voices on Art-At the Karpidas Collection-Exhibition Walkthrough-The Anatomy of Disquiet“
(1h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club
8th September 2025
Hours 10,084 to 10,087
(½h) creating a first version of a Herbert Bayer image, combining my Hands and Eyes with a fractured image of Lublin Castle Courtyard. “Hands and Eyes at Lublin Castle” above
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) private guided tour of the Paulina Karpidas sale of mainly surrealist works at Sotheby’s
Left, Dorothea Tanning’s 1951 “Katchina and her Soul” which according to the Sotheby’s guide features Peggy Guggenheim’s dog. However, ChatGPT says the dog actually belonged to Ernst and Guggenheim when they were married, and after their separation, Ernst took ownership and Katchina lived with him and Tanning. Katchina was a recurring subject in a number of Tanning’s works
Andy Warhol’s 1984, “The Scream (after Munch)”
(1½h) at the Amersham Photographic Society – 4 members discussing tips and tricks in their various genres of photography
7th September 2025
Hours 10,081 to 10,083
(2h) shooting more Lovers style self portrait of Fran and me, plus some individual self portraits and hands and eyes for a Herbert Bayer style image
(½h) processing some of the above images
(½h) preparing for tomorrow’s visit to Sotheby’s, including watching their video: “Paulina Karpidas” about the collection that is for sale
6th September 2025
Hours 10,078 to 10,080
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) shooting at the Stoke Poges Artisan market – have some quite good environmental portraits of some of the stall holders
(1½h) processing images for the village
5th September 2025
Hours 10,075 to 10,077
(2h) creating Powerpoint sides for my Amersham presentation
(1h) collating my top 10 images of the summer, which is a fairly weak collection
4th September 2025
Hours 10,074 to 10,074
(2h) updating:
- “The Eyes Have It”, left, with particular attention to making the hair look more natural and the join less obvious
- “Burnt Slice Jasper”, below, to make this more moody and vibrant
3rd September 2025
Hours 10,070 to 10,072
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) Amersham coffee morning:
- monochrome images for a potential contemporary Fellowship panel by Liz Vas
- some discussion of my Jasper after the fire images were discussed where the “Burnt Hilltop” images was considered a favourite, but with more definition of foreground treen vs background
- fabulous image by Jeremy Schrire, shot in New York, of a man with his back to us and his wife looking over his shoulder defiantly at the camera – words on his t-shirt: “Family, Faith, Flag, Firearm”
(½h) updating the “Burnt Hilltop” image right
(1h) researching Edward James and Roland Penrose for my forthcoming presentations
2nd September 2025
Hours 10,068 to 10,070
(1h) working on my presentation for the Amersham Photographic Society
(1h) discovered Herbert Bayer from a DailyArt article “Surrealism 101: Everything You Need to Know” he was a student and then a teacher at the Bauhaus
His 1932, “Lonely Metropolitan”, left is a definite candidate for recreation by me
Feels very Kafkaesque
(1h) researching Edward James
Mainly a major supporter of Salvador Dali, who introduced James to Magritte, leading to M.’s greatest commission in the summer of 1937: about 8 paintings in total, including Not to Be Reproduced and The Pleasure Principle.
However, Magritte never rated Dali as an artist essentially considering him a sell out
Photo above: Edward James (1907–84) 1933 at his London home in Wimpole Street with a painting by Pavel Tchelitchew. Photo: Sasha/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
[2 hours at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club but this was largely a social event]
1st September 2025
Hours 10,065 to 10,067
(1h) updating this journal with all the new month admin
(1h) researching Franz Kafka after references in Magritte’s biography show that both parties were fascinated by the concept of a door as a portal from one environment to another.
Kafka died in the year Surrealism official began, but he is an important influence dealing with issues of isolation and the individual lost within the mechine
This included watching the YouTubes:
- Unsolicited advice: “Why you NEED to read Franz Kafka“
- Lucasfilm: “Franz Kafka’s Dark Truth“
- Biographics: “Franz Kafka: Chronicler of Darkness“
(1h) [of the 2 elapsed] Amersham Photographic Society, introduction to the new season. When Chris Palmer was introducing the PiC Group he described me as an example of somebody who had benefited from the group and advanced significantly. When I joined, about 7 years ago, I was “a bit green”, by which he meant I knew very little
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