December 2021

This journal records my actual 10,000 hours studying fine art photography deliberate practice.

Hours 5,959 to 6,036

(January 2022)

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31^st December

Hours 6,032 to 6,036

(½h) creating the following variation of an image shot in Northumberland which has been colourised to increase the drama and sense of depth.

(4h) working on the “Autumn 2021” review post.

(½h) Updating this journal.

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30^th December

Hours 6,031

(½h) YouTube:

• Contemporary Art Issue: “Top 10 Most Expensive Contemporary Artworks” – nearly all Abstract Expressionist (not technically Contemporary) including No.s 1 & 3 from Willem de Kooning
• Barbican Centre: “Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty” curator’s tour of the exhibition visited by me on the 20^th May

(½h) Updating this journal.

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29^th December

Hours 6,028 to 6,030

(1½h) processing the Gut Buster images (“Jack’s 60th Birthday Run“)

(½h) putting the above on social media, Flickr and Facebook.

(1h) creating new Abstract images from those shot at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club’s workshop on the 7^th of this Month.

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28^th December

Hours 6,025 to 6,027

(½h) Shooting the Reading “Gut Buster” Run

(1h) updating October’s Journal while looking for images for the “Autumn 2021” post

(½h) processing the Christmas images from Stanbrook Abbey

(1h) culling and reviewing today’s Gut Buster images.

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27^th December

Hour 6,024

(½h) collating images for the “Autumn 2021” post

(½h) experimenting with the iPhone macro adjustment lens I was given for Christmas.

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26^th December

Hour 6,023

(1h) experimenting with the Kefalonia Sea Wall images using CaptureOne:

1. B&W versions – minimal but tending to be more harsh
2. colour but with a lower colour temperature (6116 rather than 6499)

Currently feeling that the images lend themselves more to an abstract expressionist rather than minimal Japanese aesthetic.

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25^th December

Hour 6,022

(½h) shooting on Christmas morning.

(½h) experimenting with different processing of the Kefalonia Sea Wall images.

Objective:

• minimal
• high-key.

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24^th December

Hour 6,021

(½h) updating this journal

(½h) working on the “Autumn 2021” review post.

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23^rd December

Hours 6,019 to 6,020

(1h) YouTube:

• Empty Gate Zen Centre: “Introduction to Zen Philosophy“
  • Zen literally means meditation
  • Most similar to psychotherapy
  • Clearing the mind, removing preconceptions, becoming open to new ideas
• Ted Forbes: “Review of Photo Books“

(1h) processing potential panel images from the sea wall images shot in Kefalonia

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22^nd December

Hour 6,018

(½h) reading “ikigai”

(½h) updating this journal.

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21^st December

Hour 6,017

(½h) YouTube: “Zen: An Introduction” and reading “ikigai & and other Japanese words to live by” by Mari Fujimoto, eating photographs by Michael Kenna. The goal is that my Kefalonia wall images may embody a Zen spirit.

(½h) creating the following “fun” image from York.

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20^th December

Hours 6,015 to 6,016

(1h) updating this journal.

(1h) creating images from York including the following.

…..

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19^th December

Hours 6,013 to 6,014

(2h) YouTube:

• Perspective: “How Van Gogh’s Sister In-Law-Made-Him A Renowned Painter“
  • Van Gogh sold only one painting in his life time yet left a legacy of over 600
• PIXimperfect: “Use 6th Grade Maths to Match Color in Photoshop!“
  1. Use the eyedropper tool to sample then create swatches of skin tones from both the subject and reference images – circles of solid colour on new layers – eyedropper should be set to sample a sufficiently wide set of pixels, i.e., 11 or 35
  2. find the difference by using the blend mode of the top layer to Subtract. If the result is black reverse the order of the layers.
  3. select the difference colour using the eyedropper tool and create a solid colour layer and set the blend mode of this layer to either Linear Dodge (add) or Subtract
  4. mask the above by
  5. hide the layers created in step 1
• Great Art Explained: “The Persistence of Memory“
  • Dali was expelled from the Surrealist for his support of Adolf Hitler, and was also a supporter of Franco. Favourite music Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. However, along with a lot of other Avant Guard artists left Europe for the USA during World War II
  • The fly on the watches is a reference to the transience of human life in classical still life
  • The strange face-like pink blob in the middle of the image is almost exactly that of the face by the pool in the first panel of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights
  • The clocks all set to different times, was perhaps influenced by the recently devised theory of relativity. However, Dali himself, suggested that the arms on the clock refer to the arrow in the symbol for maleness and as such a floppy watch is symbolic of male impotence. (?)

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18^th December

Hour 6,012

(1h) YouTube

• Yale Courses: “The Frankfurt School of Critical Theory” – major influence in art following the Modern era, i.e., the 1950s onward
• Sean Tucker: “Choosing between Black+White and Colour in your Photography“

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17^th December

Hours 6,011

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16^th December

Hour 6,010

(1h) another really excellent YouTube lecture from Travis Lee Clark: “Performance Feminism & Minimalism part2“.

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15^th December

Hour 6,009

(1h) updating this journal, mainly with regard to yesterday’s excellent YouTube and processing the following image (colour balance in Photoshop).

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14^th December

Hours 6,007 to 6,008

(1h) processing the zen abstract photos shot in Kefalonia in November.

(1h) YouTube: Travis Lee Clark, “Performance, Feminism & Minimalism (part 1)“

• After the “Modern” period (cubism, surrealism, abstract expressionism, etc.) came the “Contemporary” period, i.e., now
• Started in the 1960s/ 70s
• Art now had a, usually political, message
• Fluxus Movement (development of Dada & Futurism) – proponents included:
  • Yoko Ono, “Cut piece” where audience members were encouraged to cut off pieces of her clothing, drew attention to the objectification of women
  • Chris Burden, who had himself nailed to a car and being shot; implication of audience participation in his suffering and in the latter case being accessories to a crime
  • Marina Abramovic, 72 objects which included her, a gun and a bullet, and audience members were encouraged to interact with these however they liked
  • Betty Friedan & Judy Chicago doing feminist textiles, etc.

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13^th December

Hours 6,004 to 6,006

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12^th December

Hours 6,001 to 6,003

(1h) updating this journal and the associated Flickr.

(1h) working on the Anti-Vaxx Rally images from 4th December and exporting to Flickr.

(1h) processing the York Night Street Photography images and exporting to Flickr.

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11^th December

Hours 5,998 to 6,000

(½h) updating this journal.

(1½h) YouTube:

• CaptureOne: “What’s New in Version 22”
  • Stitching panoramas – yet still retaining the ability to do RAW editing
  • Merging to HDR – allows greater detail to be capture than is possible with a single shot
  • AI auto straightening – probably the new feature that I will use the most.
• Dixon Gallery and Gardens: “Abstract Expressionism” photographers mentioned include:
  • Harry Callahan
  • Aaron Suskind – “the Franz Kline of photography”
• The Photographic Eye: “Are you brave enough?“, essentially to show your work to other people – nurture the complements and ignore the criticism.

(1h) further editing, then exporting to Flickr the Sankta Lucia images shot on the 3^rd December.

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10^th December

Hours 5,993 to 5,997

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9^th December

Hours 5,990 to 5,992

(1h) processing some of the images from York shot at the weekend.

(2h) Amersham Mono Group.

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8^th December

Hours 5,985 to 5,989

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7^th December

Hours 5,982 to 5,984

(1h) culling and editing images from York

(½h) YouTube, first part of Travis Lee Clark’s: “Abstract Expressionism”

(½h) updating this journal

(1h) [1 of the 2 elapsed] Stoke Poges Photographic Club – workshop on abstract photography.

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6^th December

Hours 5,977 to 5,981

(½h) first light street photography, York city centre.

(½h) updating this journal.

(1h) processing Kefalonia abstracts.

(1h) culling some of the 670 images shot in York over the weekend.

(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – Zoom lecture by Ken Scott: “Mindfulness of Photography” which was absolutely excellent and more than worthy of rewatching on the recorded version.

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5^th December

Hours 5,975 to 5,976

(1h) processing Kefalonia abstracts.

(1h) evening street photography York.

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4^th December

Hours 5,972 to 5,974

(2h) shooting the anti-vaxx, anti-lockdown, Covid-is-a-myth protest in York city centre.

(1h) processing some of the Kefalonia abstracts.

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3^rd December

Hours 5,969 to 5,971

(½h) updating this journal, mainly with regard to yesterday evening’s YouTube lectures.

(1h) working on the “Autumn 2021” seasonal post.

(1h) working on Dorset Seascape and sending to SIMlab for printing, prior to discussion with the Amersham Coffee Club next Wednesday.

(½h) night shooting in York city centre, including the following images from the Sankta Lucia service at York Minster.

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2^nd December

Hours 5,962 to 5,968

(½h) updating this journal.

(2h) working on (largely monochrome) Dorset Seascapes.

(½h) collecting images for an “Autumn 2021” seasonal post. A lot has happened in the last 3 months.

(2h) Amersham Beyond group – next challenge “Bokeh”.

(2h) YouTube including:

• Miguel Quiles: “How To Professionally Retouch Portraits without Frequency Separation!“
  • Hue/Saturation tool to alter the hue of overly red areas
  • Mask the above using a luminosity mask with non-face areas blacked out
  • warm the whole image using Colour Balance to warm highlights and midtowns and slightly cool the shadows (add blue only)
• Travis Lee Clark: “Surrealism Regionalism Abstraction” – the precursors to contemporary art. Clement Greenberg’s theory, espoused in his essay “Avant-Garde and Kitsch” that modernism was a natural development of high-art from that which came before it. High art resisted the dumbing-down pressures of consumerism that the kitsch yielded to. TLC argues that Pop-Art proves that there is no difference between high and low art.

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1^st December

Hours 5,959 to 5,961

(1h) updating this journal with complaints about yesterday evening’s judge and all the new month admin.

(1½h) Amersham coffee morning where my LAB-coloured potential A panel was discussed. This was considered better than the original and I was encouraged to submit it.

(½h) processing a couple of monochromes from my trip to Dorset in mid-November, including the following:

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(November 2021)