This is December 2020’s contribution to my photography apprenticeship 10,000 hours deliberate practice learning the art of photography.
Hours 4,533 to 4,635
31st December
Hours 4,634 to 4,635
An hour preparing images for review by Yin Wong.
An hour processing the food macros shot yesterday, including the image below.
30th December
Hours 4,626 to 4,633
An hour and a half at sunrise shooting at Stoke Common; lovely frosty morning providing the opportunity for some interesting shots.
Two and a half hours processing this morning’s images, including creating 3 mono images.
An hour watching the Masters of Photography: “Interview with Joel Meyerowitz“.
An hour shooting close-up food still-life.
Two hours at the Amersham Colour Group, where by images were discussed as follows:
| Image | Comments | |
 | Thumbs up Composition and lighting applauded. | |
 | Thumbs up Generally thought to be atmospheric. | |
 | Less so … Silver birch on the extreme left generally leads the viewer out of the image and was generally considered to have a negative effect. |
29th December
Hours 4,621 to 4,625
An hour shooting mid-morning at Stoke Common goal was to shoot a particular tree from a more interesting angle. However, made a number of other images as I was walking toward the site of the target tree.
by Albert Watson
(Image on the cover of the RPS’s Portfolio 3)
An hour and a half watching Part 1 & Part 2 of the Master of Photography interview with Albert Watson. Another apparently massively famous photographer that I had never heard of and failed to include in my “100 most influential photographers of all time” post. Key points:
- Planning and preparation is everything – not kit, it’s a given that you have all that sorted, but
- how you are going to run the session
- what mood and compositions are you going to create
- how are the elements and props going to support this
- if any people are involved, how are you going to put them at their ease and community the goals of the shoot.
- Demonstrate knowledge of but do not be overwhelmed by celebrities or other subjects
- He sees himself as a photographer first and foremost, rather than a fashion, portrait or still life photographer.
Half an hour writing up this journal.
Two hours processing this morning’s images.
28th December
Hours 4,615 to 4,620
An hour shooting Stoke Common on a very cold morning at sun rise. Plus two hours processing.
An hour watching “John Szarkowski: A Life in Photography” which was recommended during the Interview with Joel Meyerowitz I watched on the 23rd.
An hour watching the following YouTubes:
- “Arshile Gorky: The Eye-Spring” the man who was the bridge between Surealism and Abstract Expressionism
- Nigel Danson: “The Laurel Forest of Madeira“
- Daniel Wretham: “Pulpit Rock – Dorset” in Portland near Portland Bill lighthouse, due south of Weymouth.
An hour finishing the “Autumn 2020” post.
27th December
Hours 4,612 to 4,614
An hour re-shooting and then another hour processing the following version of the “Satsumas on Mahogany Table” image.
Half an hour updating this journal and another half an hour preparing images for Thursday’s Colour Group meeting including making a revised version of the above image with the highlights in the reflected orange and edge of the paper bag toned down a bit.
26th December
Hours 4,609 to 4,611
Half an hour updating this journal and associated Flickr site.
Half an hour working on the “Autumn 2020” post.
Two hours shooting a Satsuma still life using my new tripod head. Three different angles shot tethered using both natural light and flash.
25th December
Hour 4,608
It’s Christmas Day and Santa has brought me a Manfrotto XPRO Geared Tripod head – what every child wants! Hurrah.
Half an hour creating a zoom background consisting our dog in the right third in front of an out-of-focus Christmas tree. Fran an I occupy the left two thirds for our family zoom calls, and it looks as though all three of us are there (just with dog being uncharacteristically still).
Half an hour squeezed in reading of the RPS Landscape journal in between family activities. I think there may be some merit in alternating colour and Black and white in my planned A-Panel. Will try an get some advice from the Amersham PIC group on this.
24th December
Hours 4,606 to 4,607
An hour writing up this journal, and further researching Joel Meyerowitz, yesterday’s discovery.
An hour organising Lightroom, planing possible A-Panels, either colour/ mono woodland scenes or colour/ mono Dorset Seascapes. I feel that I have largely lost the emotional momentum for multiple exposure urban landscapes that I spend so much of 2019 working on.
Discovered the following image that I really like (although failed to include in my top-10 Autumn 2020 selection).
23rd December
Hours 4,602 to 4,605
An hour and a half selecting images and reviewing the appropriate months for the “Autumn 2020” post and created a new version of “Age Amid Saplings” below:
An hour and a half watching the Karl Taylor “Creative Portraiture I” webinar.
Big revelation: An hour watching the Masters of Photography: “Interview with Joel Meyerowitz” – new hero who had somehow escaped my “Top 100 Photographers of All Time” – big mistake. Notes:
- Street photography
- Self portrait – each day for a year
- Still life – create a story ‘like a stage’, how the elements interact – look for expression in the imperfections of individual components
- Favourite book: “Looking at Photographs by John Szarkowski” (the film “A Life in Photography” is available as part of Amazon Prime)
- Main influences, both born in the late 19th Century and active during the early 20th:
- Eugene Atget – French pioneer of documentary photography
- André Kertész – known for interesting compositions using unusual camera angles.
22nd December
Hour 4,601
An hour writing up notes from yesterday.
21st December
Hours 4,596 to 4,600
Half an hour rewatching and writing up: “Why your images will never be perfect” (notes two days ago) and buying the book by Seth Godin (on Kindle).
[Read the book, it’s very short. Before I started, I though it related to how I feel about this 10,000 hour project: am I making progress? in fact,
Key lessons:
- the dip is the hard bit that weeds out the unmotivated, so that only the truly committed succeed, and ensures that the goal is valued for its rarity
- a cul-de-sac is a difficult pursuit with no benefit at the end. Quit cul-de-sacs.
- before pursuing a difficult endeavour, i.e., going into a dip or cul-de-sac, write down the circumstances under which you are going to stop. Stick to it.]
Half an hour creating a more credible zoom background from a photo I took of the farm shop for this evening’s Amersham Photographic Society’s Christmas social. The key think was blurring the whole image, as otherwise it was sharper than the image of me that was superimposed in front.
Two hours watching YouTubes:
- Daniel Wretham: “St Oswalds Bay” half way between Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door.
- Recommend trying an exposure of just a few (2 or 3) seconds, so that there is some movement but the whole sea isn’t completely whited-out
- Waldemar Januszczak: “Van Eyck’s Wrongly Named Painting Arnolfini Marriage“
- Waldemar Januszczak: “The Unchained Art of the Renaissance” which presents the artists of Northern Europe, e.g., the ‘Flemish Primatives’, in their own right rather than being solely influence by the Italian Renaissance .
APS Christmas Social – social.
Two further hours YouTube including:
- Grainydays: “Analysis of Edward Hopper” from a photographer’s perspective:
- Use of a simplified ‘cinematic’ colour palette
- Framed subjects – in windows or doorways
- Waldemar Januszczak’s “Art of the Vikings” – apparently they created almost as much art themselves as they stole from other people
- Masters of Photography, Ernst Hass
- Contemporary of Saul Leiter, was a pioneer of colour photography
- Member of Magnum
- Great compositions
- American Street photography
20th December
Hours 4,594 to 4,595
An hour watching a documentary about Robert Motherwell
- before the Abstract Expressionists, there was no uniquely American art style; American painting was just European painting of American Scenes. True even of Edward Hopper.
- Abstract Expressionism embodies much of the automatic paining of the European Surrealist movement, giving a role to the subconscious; “paint first, decide what it means later.”
An hour watching Nigel Danson’s “Best Composition Advice“:
- Look for rhythm in a scene, i.e., repeating elements
19th December
Hour 4,593
Half an hour reading the RPS Landscape Photography Newsletter.
Half an hour watching Ted Forbes’:
- “Editing workflow using Capture One.” the issue is one of ‘intentionality’, i.e., what is one aiming to ached with the image, at the shooting stage and how this changes or continues in post processing.
- “Why your images will never be perfect“
- “The Dip” by Seth Godin
- Deal with what is there: understand that some things are just not under your control, e.g., the weather, light, etc.;
- Give yourself permission to experiment
18th December
Hours 4,591 to 4,592
Half an hour writing up notes from the last couple of days.
An hour and a half watching the Karl Taylor Education “Models in Motion” Webinar.
17th December
Hours 4,589 to 4,590
Two hours with the Amersham PIC group. This was a proper session rather than a pre-Christmas social. Chris Palmer presented a panel of 15 winter woodland images, shot during a single 2 1/2 hour session, that could well pass an ARPS. Key points made:
- Walk round the area being photographed twice, once clockwise, once anticlockwise
- Shoot from different heights
- get close for detail
- try to achieve consistent tonality.
16th December
Hours 4,586 to 4,588
Half an hour writing up this journal particularly war regard to the talk by Polina Plotnikova yesterday evening. An hour at the virtual Cafe Africa meeting with the Amersham Photographic Society.
Half an hour watching Nigel Danson’s “Winter Photography“, top tips:
- Snow simplifies the scene – which is good
- With fewer elements, it is even more important that they are well arranged in the scene
- At sunrise/ sunset try to capture some of the sky’s colour reflected in the snow.
An hour working on revised versions of last Friday’s Hasting Meadow images in the light of Yin’s comments – converting some to B&W and enhancing the colour, using LAB, in others.
15th December
Hours 4,583 to 4,585
Half an hour reworking the images that form part of the Panel produced yesterday following feedback from Yin Wong.
Half an hour watching the TATE’s Private Exhibition Tour: “Andy Warhol“.
Two hours at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club – Lecture from Polina Plotnikova “Starting with a Blank Canvas”.
- Start with a clear idea of what one is trying to achieve; purpose of image, high-key/low-key, most important elements
- Skeleton framework as a basic structural such as a triangle
- Add elements to enhance balance and support the purpose of the image.
14th December
Hours 4,578 to 4,582
Half an hour creating the vertical panel to the left.
Half an hour reviewing the images of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020.
Two hours watching and writing up:
- Waldemar Januszczak’s “America’s most underrated artists“:
- Phillip Guston (born Goldstein): Neo-expressionist with cartoon-like images often featuring hooded Klansmen or satirising political figures. Friend of Jackson Pollock since they were at High School in LA.
- Grant Wood – American Gothic
- David Smith – semi-abstract steel sculptures – early work heavily influenced by Picasso
- Bruce Guildon documentary including work on the Yakuza – street photography that is actually about the personalities of people rather than their context.
Two hours at the Amersham Photographic Society’s virtual Member’s Evening:
- Ken Batchelor – ‘From Asahi to Amersham’
- Computer generated portraits from www.thispersondoesnotexist.com
- Peter Lillywhite – ‘Landscapes from the Edge’ – images from the Outer Hebrides .
13th December
Hours 4,575 to 4,577
An hour creating the following mini-panel from Friday’s images, as inspired by John Houton on Monday.
An hour updating this journal and Flickr site with images from the week.
Half an hour watching Sean Tucker’s “How to get feedback – Reviews, Mentors & Travel Companions“:
- Paid for portfolio reviews are highly valuable, but only if one is well prepared, with specific goals and questions to be addressed
- Mentors are the holy grail – trust them and be aware that you will be moulded in their shape – be prepared to give something back
- Travel companions – fellow artists that openly and honestly give each other feedback.
Half an hour preparing images from Hastings Meadow to send to Yin, my mentor.
12th December
Hours 4,569 to 4,574
Two hours processing images from yesterday including the following.
An hour watching a documentary on Abstract Expressionism covering the work of the key American painters both sub-fields: “Action Painting” (AP) and “Colour Field” (CF):
- Jackson Pollock – AP
- Mark Rothko – CF
- Willem de Kooning – AP
- Franz Kline – AP
- Robert Motherwell – CF
- Barnet Newman – CF
- Clyfford Still – CF
- Philip Guston – AP
- Lee Krazner – AP & wife of Jackson Pollock
- Adolph Gottlieb – AP.
In the ’70s, Pop Art (Warhol, Litgenstein, et al) and its variants replaced abstract expressionism as the dominant art movement in the USA, only to be replaced itself by Neo-Expressionism which is a return to a more abstract style. Most notable exponents: Jean-Michel Basquiat & Julian Schabel.
Another hour processing yesterday’s images.
An hour and a half watching:
- Waldemar Januszczak’s: “Madness of Renaissance Art” featuring Leonardo Da Vinci, Hieronymus Bosch, and El Greco and his influence on Picasso. El Greco’s “The Opening of the Fifth Seal” would have been know to Picasso and shows potential morphological and stylistic influences for his Les Demoiselles d’Avignon
- Preview of the “Keith Haring & Jean Michel Basquiat – Crossing Lines” exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Australia earlier this year.
Half an hour updating this journal.
11th December
Hours 4,564 to 4,568
An hour updating this journal with the thoughts and work from the last few days.
An hour revising the Kimmeridge Bay B&Ws in the light of yesterday’s Mono meeting.
An hour and a half shooting at Burnham Beeches.
Burnt out car at Burnham Beeches
Half an hour shooting spectacular fog in Hastings Meadow at sunset.
Another hour processing.
10th December
Hours 4,561 to 4,563
Half an hour early morning woodland shooting in Barnet, North London (of all places – Why? Well, that’s just where I was.)
An hour and a half processing these images from Capture One through to Photoshop.
Two hours at the Amersham virtual Mono group where my 3 seascapes from Kimmeridge Bay were discussed (all shot on 19th November).
| Original | Comments | Revised |
 | Try including more foreground. |  |
 | Increase overall contrast. Add a gradient to darken the sky. |  |
 | Add emphasis to the sky by darkening |  |
9th December
Hours 4,559 to 4,560
An hour updating this journal and associated Flickr site.
An hour’s YouTubes:
- Ted Forbes: Review of Capture One Pro 21
- Waldemar Januszczak’w “Guide the the R&A Exhibition of Abstract Expressionism“. Pollock, Rothko & Barnet Newman are well known to me as their work is represented at the Tate Modern, De Kooning, Gorsky and
- Jamie Windsor’s: “9 Quick Tips for Better Black and White Photos“
- Compose for B&W – understand why you’re doing this – a more timeless aesthetic
- Look for the abstract: “a canvas of form and tone”
- Shoot in RAW for flexibility in adjusting tones from colours
- Use long exposures – can help emphasise textures – and a polariser
- Dodge and burn: “… steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships” – Ansel Adams
- Understand how the change from colour to B&W affects the role of light under different conditions
- Use HDR – subtly – layer multiple exposure to bring back detail
- Use B&W to emphasise mood – pay particular attention to eyes
- Subvert expectation: interesting form from strongly coloured objects – this is why Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 works so well.
Edward Weston
8th December
Hours 4,555 to 4,558
Half an hour writing up this journal – mainly with regard to yesterday evenings talk by Joe Houghton.
- Dedicates time via projects, e.g., 2 hours shooting (one on way to work, one at lunchtime), an hour and a half processing each evening
- Creates a daily panel of 10-15 images in a consistent style
- Style visibly improves over time
- Adds one image to Instagram per day with a bit of narrative
- Progress from daily panels to book was relatively easy.
I admire the focus and work ethic.
An hour organising images and creating/ preparing mono images of Dorset for this Thursday’s Amersham Mono group.
Half an hour shooting at Hastings Meadow and the Memorial Gardens.
An hour at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club – Competition “Stairs, Escalators and Lift” + Open.
| Image | Comments | |
| “Escalators Canary Wharf” 18 | ||
 | “Man Descending the South Bank” 20 | |
 | “Brooding Scar Kimmeridge Bay” 14 Central part of image and foreground good – but left side, without any detail due to long exposure, very distracting | |
 | “Sunset by Clavell’s Tower” 17 |
7th December
Hours 4,550 to 4,554
An hour writing up this journal including the review of my current status vs Nigel Danson’s 7 Tips from Yesterday’s YouTube.
| Nigel Danson’s Tip | My Progress |
| Really learn your equipment, so that your camera is just an extension of your arm; you use it without needing to thing about doing so. | I shoot mainly in manual and know where all the functions that I use on the camera exist. Fairly comfortable using flash and have memory setting for quickly moving shooting street portraits, action shots and ICM (16th April 2020 & 25th January 2019. |
| Experiment – use different shooting heights and techniques | Need to remember to do this at the Boag rule of finding at least 3 compositions every time you take a shot. |
| Keep compositions as simple as possible | Always the goal: Identify what image is of, what it’s about, compositional elements and potential distractions. |
| Shoot at different times of day | I tend to shoot at sunrise, sometimes sunset, rarely in the middle of the day |
| Improve your editing | I’m pretty good at understanding and driving the technology – need to link this knowledge with the goal of what makes a good image |
| Shoot as often as you can | Try to shoot most days. |
| Get feedback | Peer feedback from: – SPPC competitions – Yin Wong (mentor) – APS competitions – APS special interest groups. |
An hour watching a YouTube documentary about the making of the film “Exploring Pollock”.
An hour organising my current projects – work started yesterday.
Two hours at the virtual Amersham Photographic Society: Speaker – Joe Houghton – “Street photography – A personal journey”.
6th December
Hours 4,548 to 4,549
An hour shooting at Stoke Common.
Half an hour organising my recent images into project folders:
- Autumn Woodland Colour
- Autumn Woodland Mono
- Dorset Seascapes Colour & Colourised
- Dorset Seascapes Mono
- London Multiple Exposure.
An hour and a half watching YouTubes:
- Nigel Danson: “7 Tips that will make you a better Photographer” ( see my notes above)
- Daniel Wretham: “Shooting Stair Hole” reminds me of my attempt to do this on 30th October, also when the light was too bad to shoot Lulworth Cove
- B&H Event Series: “How to photograph food with Dolphin Nandi“.
5th December
Hours 4,546 to 4,547
An hour working on the “Autumn 2020” post.
An hour watching Waldemar Januszczak documentary about Gainsborough’s “Mr. and Mrs. Andrews.”
4th December
Hours 4,544 to 4,545
An hour watching the RPS interview with Simon Roberts HonFRPS.
An hour working on the “Autumn 2020” post, mainly reviewing October.
3rd December
Hours 4,541 to 4,543
Two hours drafting the framework to a “Autumn 2020” post, including reviewing and updating the journals for the three months covered.
An hour watching the Waldemar Januszczak documentary: “Vanity & Legacy: When Famous Leaders meet Famous Sculptors”. Covers:
- Mount Rushmore – built by Gutzon Borglum, a man of dubious politics; an active freemason and reputed member of the Ku Klux Klan, who once cited Mussolini as the European politician he most admired, as he got things done
- Moai of Easter Island
- Greek gods and soviet leaders – sheer scale makes them impressive.
2nd December
Hours 4,539 to 4,540
An hour at the virtual Amersham Cafe Africa meeting.
An hour updating this journal and drafting an “Autumn 2020” post – making an initial selection of top 10 images for the period. Actually spent half the time revising some of the Dorset Seascapes.
1st December
Hours 4,533 to 4,538
An hour shooting at Stoke Common. Plus another hour processing those image in Capture One.
Two hours updating this journal including quite a bit of time spend updating the top monthly graphic. Style changes include:
- “December …” complementary hue and brightness
- “activity …” primary colour, but complementary brightness
- “thoughts …” primary colour, but brightness at 50%
- Inner shadow added to the base-layer:
- Base drop shadow reduced to:
- 67% opacity
- size 18 (was 78)
- colour changed to match primary.
- Daily heading inline text colour changed to match “activity …” as the contrast is better.
An hour watching Waldemar Januszczak’s art documentary: “The Birth of the Italian Renaissance“. This is the period of the 15th and 16th centuries – 14th century was the Rococo or late Baroque.
An hour processing images for entry into next week’s “Stairs, Escalators & Lifts” competition at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club. And finishing off processing today’s images in Capture One then exporting to Lightroom.