February 2024

This journal records my actual ten thousand hours deliberate practice mastering photography

Hours 8,403 to 8,475

(March 2024)

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29^th February 2024

Hours 8,472 to 8,475

(2h) rehearsing and refining my presentation for the Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross Camera Club this evening

(1h) giving my presentation on Surrealism:

• broadly well received – lots of positive comments afterwards
• I was conscious about the risk of over running and instead finished in 30 minutes a talk that should have taken at least 45
• maybe show images from other Surrealists including Dora Maar (shell photo), Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Dorothea Tanning, etc.
• note to self on keeping an eye on the time, so that I don’t appear rushed and have time for all the anecdotes – who where I should be after 15 minutes & 30
• Could add some bonus images of mine at the end as a buffer, “False Mirror”, “Stormy Eye”, “Time Transfixed”, etc.

(1h) listening to Rojer Weightman’s presentation on the Dutch Masters

• Composition of still life – often has plates overlapping the front of the table
• Golden Age, Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc. in the 17th Century
• van Gogh was mid to late 19th Century

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28^th February 2024

Hours 8,468 to 8,471

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27^th February 2024

Hours 8,465 to 8,467

(½h) updating this journal

(½h) shooting images of a dying red rose for use in a Magritte style composite

(½h) editing and processing the above images

(1½h) creating a first draft homage to Magritte’s “Memory” painting

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26^th February 2024

Hours 8,461 to 8,464

(2h) updating and rehearsing my Surrealism talk before my presentation to the Gerrards Cross and Chalfonts Photographic Society on Thursday

(2h) at the Amersham Photographic Society – Lecture by Chris Palmer FRPS “The Eloquent Landscape” which was both instructional and inspirational

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25^th February 2024

Hours 8,458 to 8,460

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24^th February 2024

Hours 8,454 to 8,457

(3½h) at the final of the North West Fed competition where the Amersham Photographic Society triumphed over Croxley Camera Club and my 2 images in the starred prints competition received the following comments:

Image	…..	Comment
		“Burford Peril” It looks as though there is a hole in the shell where the egg was blown, so that it would stand up more easily. [this would have been a good idea, but was not, in fact, the case] The composition of the image is very good: balance and proportions, etc. Not quite at the very very top
		“Surrealist Dinner” Beautifully done Top left sleeve, holding bread, on the right of the image, perhaps a tad dark and losing detail Again not quite at the very top of the competing images

(½h) updating this journal including the above notes

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23^rd February 2024

Hours 8,450 to 8,453

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22^nd February 2024

Hours 8,447 to 8,449

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21^st February 2024

Hours 8,444 to 8,446

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20^th February 2024

Hours 8,441 to 8,443

(½h) writing up this journal and in particular the notes from yesterday’s competition, where I clearly need to do more work on these images.

(½h) preparing for this evening’s print competition at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club

(2h) at the competition

Image	…..	Comment
		“False Nobel Widow with House Fly” Held back – 19 Back lighting is very effective – definitely macro
		“Magritte in Brussels” 18 This is more than merely somebody else’s art. The addition of man on the right side is very strong
		“Memory (of Nefertiti)” 17 The wall and beam are not straight – which is distracting

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19^th February 2024

Hours 8,439 to 8,440

(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – PDI’ competition – not a good evening!

Image	…..	Comment
		“The Mystery of Magritte and Nefertiti” 15 Doesn’t hang together as a convincing composite. Maybe needs a texture over the top, or something else to bind it all together. Currently looks like a set of separate images suck together. Moon doesn’t look real.
		“The Voice of Space” 14 Again, looks like some images that have just been stuck together. Maybe some shadow and/ or reflections between the orbs.

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18^th February 2024

Hours 8,436 to 8,438

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17^th February 2024

Hour 8,435

YouTubes:

• The Blind Dweller: “The Fading Beautiful Mind of William Utermohlen” – work showing the gradual destructive progress of Alzheimer’s disease
• Contemporary Art Issue: “How To Price Art — Part 1: Paintings, Works on Paper, Fine Art Photography & Prints (+Calculator!)” – (Height+Length) x Index
• Envato Tuts: “10 Epic Photo Manipulation Tips & Tricks“

1. Generative Fill – for extending canvases, or elements within the frame
2. Blend If – good for merging blackgrounds – I have used this quite extensively already
3. Extracting Hair:
   1. Use Select Subject to get a rough selection
   2. Add a Layer Mask to create a rough mask
   3. Select the mask in the Properties Panel
   4. Click Refine Hair – although there are setting to play with, a simple click works 90% of the time
4. Face and Body Paint Effect
   1. B&W adjustment layer and a Brightness/ Contrast layer set to c. +55 & -35
   2. Group the new layers, mask and invert mask
   3. Use a “Paint Texture” brush to paint on the subject
   4. maybe:
      • duplicate for a stronger effect
      • add a gradient mask to change the paint’s colour
      • Use BlendIf to remove the paint from highlights to being in a shine effect
5. Create a Planet
   1. grab a terrain texture layer and using the elliptical marquee tool draw our a larger circular selection
   2. Filter – Distort – Spherise (amount 100%)
   3. Repeat step b if necessary
   4. Add a mask and “voila”
6. Backlit Hair
   1. Extract subject from background and duplicate layer, rename the new layer “fill” place below the original layer
   2. Fill the fill layer with whatever colour we want the backlighting to be
   3. Select the Move Tool – click on one of the anchors to enter free transform mode and select warp transform
   4. Distort so that the highlight hair just peaks behind the subject’s hair
   5. Mask away unwanted colour in the rest of the image
7. Create Rain
   1. New layer filled with Black “using the paint bucket tool” whatever that is
   2. Filter – Pixilate – Mezzotint (Type: Course Dots)
   3. Zoom in – Select Colour Range – Click on a dot – adjust fuzziness to 200
   4. Add a layer mask and edit the mask properties
      • feather c. 2px
      • Contrast c. 50%
   5. Duplicate the above layer twice – select all three layers, merge and rename “Rain”
   6. Duplicate twice again and hide the top 2 layers so that we can edit them individually:
      1. Filter Path Blur – producing a motion blur, but not necessarily in a uniform straight line
      2. Place points on the path to create movement in the rain making it look more natural
      3. Repeat for the other two layers after increasing the dot size in each case and using slightly different blur paths
      4. Apply a Hue/Saturation Layer to all, grouped rain layers, click Colorize and add a hint of background colour
8. Create Veins
   1. Create a new canvas, at least 3,000 x 3,000px
   2. Filter – Render – Clouds
   3. Filter – Render – Difference Clouds
   4. Create a new layer filled with solid white; place below clouds layer
   5. Reduce Clouds to 50% opacity
   6. Merge layers
   7. Image – Adjustments – Brightness/Contrast (50, 100)
   8. Image – Adjustments – Hue/ Saturation, click Colorize and select what ever colour works
   9. Add the above texture to the image with the blend mode Color Burn
   10. Mask and maybe reduce opacity
   11. Desired opacity may change from body part to body part
   12. Works well on bloodshot eyes
   13. Save the vein texture for future use
9. Oil Paint Effect
   1. Set up the Mixer Brush (set 100%, Load 15%, Mix 15%, Flow c 3-10%) – ensure that large art brush is selected
   2. Brush in a constant direct
   3. Increase flow for a dramatic effect
10. Paint Blood
    1. New layer, blend mode Multiply
    2. Paint on a base layer of blood using a hard brush and light/ medium or dark red colour
    3. New layer, blend mode overlay
    4. Hard round brush – brush settings “Wet Edges”
    5. New Layer, paint highlights on the blood, brush 3-6px size
    6. Use gradients on the highlights

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16^th February 2024

Hours 8,433 to 8,434

(1h) experimenting with blood splatter techniques

(1h) refining and preparing images for Monday’s PDI competition at the Amersham Photographic Society

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15^th February 2024

Hours 8,430 to 8,432

(1h) preparing and ordering prints for next week’s “Macro” print competition at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club

(2h) Amersham PiC Group meeting

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14^th February 2024

Hour 8,429

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13^th February 2024

Hours 8,427 to 8,428

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12^th February 2024

Hours 8,424 to 8,426

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11^th February 2024

Hour 8,423

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10^th February 2024

Hour 8,422

(½h) Updating this journal

(½h) Adding a blood drip to the Nefertiti bust below

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9^th February 2024

Hours 8,420 to 8,421

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8^th February 2024

Hours 8,418 to 8,419

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7^th February 2024

Hours 8,414 to 8,417

(½h) updating this journal

(1h) Amersham Coffee club

(2½h) Watching the Blind Dweller YouTubes about the conceptual performance artist Marina Abramovic:

• Part I
• Part II
• Part III

Most famous works (1973-4):

• Rhythm 10 – repeated for 10 nights in Edinburgh; recording the sound whilst she quickly and repeatedly stabbed between her fingers with 10 knives until she had cut herself with each of the knives. Then after rewinding the tape on the first recorder, she would repeat the act recording the act on a second recorder. Again and again until the hour was up.
  – repeated for a second time in Rome with 20 knives
• Rhythm 5 – set fire to a large star on the ground in which she would lie inside. The lack of oxygen caused her to loose consciousness and after 6 minutes she had to be recused by gallery staff
• Rhythm 2 – involved taking 2 extreme medications; the first caused involuntary movements. Then after the effects of this, she took a second pill that caused virtual paralysis, this took 5 hours to wear off
• Rhythm 4 – she knelt naked in front of a high powered industrial fan to breath in as much air as possible. She again lost consciousness and needed to be rescued, even after elaborate attempts to stop this happening before the end of her performance
• Rhythm 0 – for 6 hours between 8pm and 2am she stood behind a table containing an assortment of objects including a gun with a single bullet and invited the audience to do whatever they wanted to her

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6^th February 2024

Hours 8,410 to 8,413

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5^th February 2024

Hours 8,408 to 8,409

(2h) selecting and preparing images for SPPC’s Three Nations competition against clubs in Australia and South Africa to be held on the 27^th of this month

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4^th February 2024

Hour 8,407

(1h) processing images from Andorra

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3^rd February 2024

Hour 8,406

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2^nd February 2024

Hour 8,405

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1^st February 2024

Hours 8,403 to 8,404

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(January 2024)