This journal records my actual 10,000 hours mastering fine art photography through deliberate practice
Hours 8,845 to 8,933
31th July 2024
Hours 8,930 to 8,933
(2h) shooting:
- end of the women’s triathlon – just catching the last of the runners – “After Swimming and Cycling”, above
- cycling and running of the men’s triathlon
- award celebration at the Trocadero Centre in the evening, “Au Revoir Mon Amour”, below
+ “Paris Street with Eiffel Tower”, right
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
(1h) updating this journal and the “Five Hours in the Pompidou Centre, Paris” post
30th July 2024
Hours 8,926 to 8,929
(1h) writing the post “Five Hours in the Pompidou Centre, Paris“
(2h) shooting c. 800 Canoe Slalom, “Transition 14 to 15”, right
(1h) editing the day’s images, importing c. 80 into Capture One Pro
29th July 2024
Hours 8,919 to 8,925
(½h) early morning street photography
(5h) in the Pompidou Centre, “Paris Skyline from Pompidou Centre 2024”, above –
There is a room devoted to the works of Marc Chagall, including the 1933-1934, “To My Women”, left
Viewed in person these are wonderfully luminescent and highlight the error in my recent “Revised: Top 10 Painters” post where Chagall was not even given a honourable mention in my list of favourite painters
New artists:
Bang Hai Ja – abstract expressionist mixing traditional Korean painting and paper making with action painting to create works variously like Mark Rothko or Jackson Pollock
Jean Degottex – a surrealist inspired/ influenced abstract painter applauded by André Breton who compared his work to Japanese Calligraphy
left, “Écriture”, 1963
“Viewing 25 Inflammatory Essays by Jenny Holzer”, above. This is exactly the exhibit in the Blavatnik Building of the Tate Modern that I have walked past on many occasions, including the 14th February 2019. Today, I stopped and read a few of the 100 word essays.
(½h) writing up this journal
(1h) starting a post “Five Hours in the Pompidou Centre, Paris“
28th July 2024
Hours 8,916 to 8,918
(1½h) shooting table tennis
(½h) shooting an outdoor acrobatics and poetry event – which I think I will make into a polyptych, currently thinking: 5 or 6 pictures. [Actually a 10-ptych created on 9th August]
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
27th July 2024
Hours 8,913 to 8,915
(½h) street photography first thing in the morning – “Skull Trio Catacombs Paris”, below
(1h) at the Orangerie museum in Paris
(½h) photographing the cycling time-trial, “Speed”, left
(1h) editing and processing the day’s images
26th July 2024
Hours 8,910 to 8,912
(1h) street photography first thing in the morning:
- “Paris 2024 – Jardin du Luxembourg”, above
- “Fan Zone”, right
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s photos
(1h) street photography throughout the day, including “Centre for Cultural Honours”, below
25th July 2024
Hour 8,909
(1h) updating this journal & the “Summer 2024” post
Preparing my camera for tomorrow morning’s shoot
24th July 2024
Hours 8,906 to 8,908
(1½h) entering a digital FIAP circuit – 3 countries, using old but recent images
(1½h) at the Amersham Coffee club – very interesting conversation with, Mark Seymour, a new member, ex-professional with some impressive images taken whilst a Nikon Ambassador in India and the Middle East
23rd July 2024
Hours 8,903 to 8,905
(½h) updating my FIAP tracking spreadsheet with 10 of the new images
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) processing the finger images shot on the 20th (none of them are as good as I thought they were on the day of shooting – tethered into a laptop)
(1h) entering the Turkish Fokus-Art salon
22nd July 2024
Hour 8,902
(1h) preparing and dispatching prints for the 57th EA International Salon, including completing the remainder of the paperwork. In total this submission included 20 (out of 24) new images
21st July 2024
Hours 8,900 to 8,901
(1h) changing the A4 Printing for FIAP photoshop action so that it works in pixels rather than centimetres – this makes it more robust regarding starting images of differing resolutions and yesterday’s problems will be avoided. Reprocessing the photos of Gill and her Siblings’ families
(½h) retoning the “Seated Woman in Jeans and Green Sweater” image below
(½h) updating this journal
20th July 2024
Hours 8,898 to 8,899
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) diagnosing the problems with tethering my Sony A1 to a MacBook pro – very simple:
- Smartphone Connection was set to “On”, it should have been “Off”
- PC Remote was “Off” when it should have been “On”
- both functions are accessed by my personalised menu (see my post “Setting Up the Sony a1“)
- see also “Tethered Workflow using Capture One Pro (Sony)“
The reason my camera was wrongly configured for tethering is that I had previously been using the “Send to Smartphone” function
(½h) shooting some finger shots for potential use in a future Magritte inspired composite
(½h) preparing photos of Gill and her Siblings’ families – using my standard A4 Printing for FIAP action which leaves a one inch border around the image – did not work great as the images of her sisters’ families were shot on a phone with a resolution of 72dpi
19th July 2024
Hours 8,896 to 8,897
(1h) selecting, and in some cases slightly modifying, images for the E.A. International FIAP salon entered earlier this week
(1h) formatting the images for printing for the above salon which included updating my Photoshop action for A3 FIAP prints, also reprinting the altered images for the coming week’s Coffee meeting
18th July 2024
Hours 8,894 to 8,895
(1h) updating this journal and Flickr site mainly with notes from yesterday’s coffee meeting
(1h) further processing of the Strong Women portraits in the light of the comments from the coffee meeting
17th July 2024
Hours 8,891 to 8,893
(1h) processing images from yesterday evening’s photo walk with the Stoke Poges Photographic club, including “Social Realism” below
(1h) at the Amersham Coffee meeting, where my Strong Women portraits were discussed:
- “Alex Close Up” needs to be in focus (original image below, revised version right)
- There were a number of distracting highlights on glasses etc. that need to be toned down
- The drop shadow I put on my prints was thought to be distracting as one side of the image appeared blurred, the other sharp (perhaps reduce opacity)
(1h) updating the images that were commented on including using Topaz Gigapixel and Sharpen on the image right to increase the detail – worked well
16th July 2024
Hours 8,887 to 8,890
(2h) collating images for a FIAP competition – first one entered in more than a year!
(1h) updating images including the “Jester” below (darkening the background and generally tidying up)
(1h) shooting in Windsor – photo walk with the Stoke Poges Photographic Club
15th July 2024
Hours 8,882 to 8,886
(2h) Editing, processing and printing a selection of images from the last couple of days: portrait shoot and Lakeland landscapes, including the dramatic candid portrait of Gill above. I like the composition, with lots of negative space
(1½h) updating this journal and the associated Flickr site
(1h) rewatching the “David Yarrow Interview” originally watched during lock-down on 12th January 2021 as a result of my friend and mentor, Yin Wong, giving me his “Until Tomorrow” book that I studied over the weekend in the Lake District
- key tip: shoot from a low angle – extremely low – the ground if possible
- Maddox Gallery
- Website
(½h) recropping an image shot on the 3rd July 2019 to create “Seated Woman in Jeans and Green Sweater”, below
14th July 2024
Hours 8,880 to 8,881
“Lake Windermere” shot first thing in the morning from our hotel balcony
(2h) editing and processing images from the last couple of days
13th July 2024
Hours 8,878 to 8,879
(½h) shooting the sands at Morecombe Bay
- “Morecambe Bay Posts”, above
- “Crossing the Sands at Morecambe Bay”, right
- “Morecambe Bay Landscape”, below
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) editing and processing images from the last couple of days
12th July 2024
Hours 8,874 to 8,877
“Windermere in Cloud”, below, shot first thing in the morning from hotel balcony
(2h) shooting the “Three Generations of Strong Women”, above – tethered shooting not working with my laptop and A1. Need to investigate and, note to self, ensure this is practiced prior to another shoot
(½h) editing and processing the above images including the “Alex Close Up”, right
(1½h) watching the BBC documentary “Tish” about the photographer and social change activist Tish Murtha
11th July 2024
Hours 8,872 to 8,873
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) preparing for tomorrow’s photoshoot
(1h) CaptureOne Livestream: “Portrait photography workflows with Mark Mann“
- put adjustments on a layer so that you can reduce the opacity
- use luma curves to remove the impact on saturation
- tethering allows for instant feedback
10th July 2024
Hours 8,869 to 8,871
(½h) editing and processing yesterday’s lighting test images
(1½h) Amersham coffee club:
- discussion of my Slough Diptychs – polite interest, but did not set the world ablaze
- Sarah Lipman’s contemporary portfolio:
- high impact contemporary images
- photobook style of layout with different coloured backgrounds for each section
- just enough text to provide context
(½h) YouTunes on hair lighting (goal is separation from the background – which I’m not entirely sure I need or want for this weekend’s shoot):
- Profoto: “What is a hair light?“
- Daniel Norton: “Hair / Separation Light Placement“
(½h) updating this journal
9th July 2024
Hours 8,867 to 8,868
(½h) collating images for the Amersham Exhibition
(1½h) lighting test for the weekend’s photoshoot
8th July 2024
Hours 8,865 to 8,866
(½h) creating a couple of further Dune images, including the use of Topas Gigapixel to increase the resolution of severe crops, like the one above, where I think it worked quite well
(1½h) FIAP zoom presentation Bears and Cowboys with Lisa Langell
Silhouettes:
- expose for the sky to get colour
- need to see the feet
- key is separation and contrast
High Key:
- use bright daylight/ ideally bright overcast days
- intentionally over-expose even for the subject
Low Key:
- simple lighting – rim lighting
7th July 2024
Hours 8,863 to 8,864
(½h) updating this journal
(1½h) create more dune images, including the “Sand Swirl” above, which I love
6th July 2024
Hours 8,861 to 8,862
(2h) editing the Slough Diptychs and preparing for printing, including writing a series of photoshop actions for A4 printing with no border
5th July 2024
Hours 8,856 to 8,860
(1h) shooting replacement images in Slough for the 2019-24 series
(4h) editing and processing the day’s images including creating new diptychs
4th July 2024
Hours 8,854 to 8,855
(1h) updating this journal – mainly with notes from yesterday
(1h) researching Giuseppe Arcimoldo including the Art Tourist YouTube: “Know the Artist: Giuseppe Arcimboldo“
3rd July 2024
Hours 8,852 to 8,853
(½h) creating some more mono versions of the Namibian Dune images
(1½h) at the “Frameless” immersive exhibition in London, sections:
- “Beyond Reality” (right) – new artist: Giuseppe Arcimoldo (1525-1593), a “proto-surrealist” like Hieronymous Bosch only 100 years later
- “The World Around us” (below, left)
- “The Art of Abstraction” (below, right), projected onto frames in the room, and animated to jazz music
- “Colour in Motion” an interactive immersive mainly featuring the impressionists
Great fun. Couldn’t help wondering what the artists would have thought:
- Piet Mondrian, a jazz fan, e.g. Broadway Boogie Woogie, and would certainly have approved
- Hilma af Klint, a mystic theosophist whose art was guided my the High Masters, might not have
 |  | |
| “The World Around us” | “The Art of Abstraction” |
2nd July 2024
Hours 8,848 to 8,851
(1h) up to date collecting data for the “90% Complete” post
(1h) researching tomorrow’s “frameless” exhibition I have been given as a birthday present and stumbling upon “17 best art galleries in London” which reminded me to check out:
- Saatchi Gallery (more regularly)
- Serpentine Gallery (again)
- The Photographers’ Gallery (check what’s on)
- Whitechapel Gallery – priority as never visited
- White Cube Bermondsey
- South London Gallery
(½h) preparing for a second shoot of the Slough Diptychs
(1½h) creating some variations on the Namibian Dune images
1st July 2024
Hours 8,845 to 8,847
(1h) updating this journal with all the new month admin
(1h) YouTube and researching new artist:
- Blind Dweller: “The Imagination of Martín Ramírez” – a Mexican artist who created all his work in a North American mental hospital where his talent was spotted by one of the doctors
- Art21: “Susan Rothenberg in ‘Memory’” – images of a horse which synthesise abstraction with figuration – an artist to watch
(1h) collecting data for the “90% Complete” post