This journal records my actual ten thousand hours deliberate practice purposefully studying the art of photography.
Hours 6,254 to 6,336
31st March
Hours 6,333 to 6,336
(2h) finishing and publishing the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
(½h) creating a new, brighter version of Maison Lumières de René Magritte image, and an “Homage to Rene Magritte” Flickr Album.
(1½h) YouTube:
- The Photographic Eye: “The Secret to Exceptional Colour Photography that Pete Turner Knew“
- Manufacturing Intellect: “Helen Frankenthaler interview (1993)“
- Capture One: “Product Photography Livestream (feat. Zoë Noble)“
30th March
Hours 6,328 to 6,332
(1h) inserting the images of the season into the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
(1h) processing the lens ball experiment
Notes:
- Lighting needs to be more focussed, on just me
- No distracting bright pink towels in background
- Take shot with ball moved, to get blurry head behind the stand.
(1h) YouTube:
- Great Art Explained: “Yayoi Kusama” polka dot woman
- National Scleroderma Foundation: “The life & Art of Paul Klee” from the perspective of his illnesses
- The Guardian: “Joan Miró’s The Hope of a Condemned Man” a work inspired by the execution of the Catalan anarchist Salvador Puig Antich
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – Colour Group
29th March
Hours 6,324 to 6,327
(1h) updating this journal and links to the Flickr site.
(1h) further researching and updating the Artistic Timelines spreadsheet with some of the German Expressionists
(1h) further experimental shooting with the Lens ball and better lighting.
(1h) YouTube:
- Steven Carroll: “German Art of the 20th Century: Expressionism“
- Accessible Art History: “Expressionism“
28th March
Hours 6,320 to 6,323
(1h) Experimenting, shooting with the lens ball. Trying to get a self portrait, Magritte style, where the ball replaces the face.
(1h) YouTube:
- Curious Muse: “Expressionism Explained” – early 20th century – most expressive period in art history. Inspired by “primitive art” from Africa, etc. realistic figuration was less important than showing emotional intensity.
- The Blue Rider: founded by Vasily Kandinsky in 1911, name from a frequent motif in their work, also Paul Klee. Kandinsky had synesthesia and wanted to express music as painting and explore the way this affects spiritual states.
- The Bridge: from Friedrich Nietzche’s quote “what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end” a path between the present and the future, and between artist and the viewer.
- Egon Schiele
- SmartHistory: “The Harlequin’s Carnival by Joan Miro“, Miro was almost starving to death through poverty when he made this painting
- Inside Francis Bacon “Surprising Reality: Bacon and Bonnard” – Bonnard is one of Bacon’s key inspirations: the quality of the paint, the creation of luminescent colour combinations that create a lightness in the image
- Sean Tucker: “Making Portraits to Honor People (feat. Agenda Brown)” be interested in the people you photograph
- The Photographic Eye: “5 Fun Photographic Phenomena“
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – DPI competition, no skin in the game.
27th March
Hour 6,319
Very sadly Grutzi the lovely Bernese Mountain Dog that I met with owner, Antonio, when skiing in Corvara, on the 11th of this month, died last night of a suspected heart attack. The image below was the last photo taken of him.
Musing on the composition above: the crop through Antonio’s head means that he and the dark strip of carpark at the top of the image form a T-shape neatly framing Grutzi as the main subject. Had I left more space at the top of the frame, Antonio would have competed as a subject in his own right.
(½h) creating a new high resolution version of the “Antonio & Grutzi” picture above, which I hope Antonio has printed..
(½h) experimenting with my ring-flash on my macro lens, using a tube of translucent material with the goal of having less circular highlight/ reflection in the subject. However, all attempts merely made matters worse emphasising the dark spot of the lens where there is no light.
26th March
Hours 6,318
(½h) YouTube: Teo Crawford “A moody morning of photography in the fog” gave me the idea of including myself more in the photographs using an intervalometer to fires a set of images; slow shutter speed to get some movement, running or walking.
(½h) organising the top 10 images for the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
25th March
Hours 6,316 to 6,317
(½h) shooting;
(1½h) editing the following image inspired by Rene Magritte
24th March
Hours 6,314 to 6,315
(½h) updating this journal.
(½h) editing the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
(1h) YouTube by Charles Mark Haxthausen “Paul Klee, Wilhelm Hausenstein, and the ‘Problem of Style’” on the style unifying Paul Klee’s eclectic oeuvre.
Conclusion:
- It’s all about intent
- Klee’s work is about the medium itself
- Paintings about painting & drawings about drawing
23rd March
Hour 6,313
YouTube:
- Hauser & Wirth: “Arshile Gorky: Beyond The Limit” the process behind his famous painting
- The Photographic Eye: “Unless You Follow Seth Godin’s Advice…“
- other people will ignore your photos
- you need to be “remarkable” – different
- purple cow.
22nd March
Hours 6,309 to 6,312
(½h) updating this journal particularly with regard to images from last weekend.
(1h) collating images for the “Winter 2021/ 22” post
(½h) YouTube – The Photographic Eye: “What Photo School Should Have Taught Photographers…“
- “Comparison is the thief of joy” William Shakespeare
- Compare yourself only to who you were previously, not other people
- If other people are doing good work, steal their ideas, techniques and insight.
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – Tri Nations competition judged by Chris Palmer FRPS of Amersham.
21st March
Hours 6,305 to 6,308
(2h) writing up and further researching the YouTubers and photographers features in yesterday’s The Photographic Eye, including:
- Teo Crawford: “Finding Style in Photography“
- Ziqianqian – surrealist self portraiture; symbiosis between human beings and nature, and to look at things familiar object from different angles to disclose different findings
- Alec Soth: “Mind The Gap” discussing the informational gaps in photographs, particularly within photo books.
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society – Lecture by Antonio Olmos who is a British/ Mexican photojournalist working a lot in war zones.
20th March
Hour 6,304
(½h) updating the draft “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
(½h) YouTube:
- The Photographic Eye: “Photography Channels YouTube DOESN’T WANT To Show You!” Alex’s favourite channels:
- Teo Crawford
- Alec Soth
- AOWS
- Ben Harvey
- Aperture
- Matthew Storer
- Sean Tucker: “Shaping the Light in your Portraits” using 4 curves layers (without adjustment) selectively applied with a soft brush with 3%flow on the layer’s mask:
- Dodge (Screen blend mode): emphasise the areas when light falls on the subject; face, hair and clothes
- Burn (Multiply blend mode): emphasise the shadows on the face, hair and clothes
- Background (Multiply blend mode): darken the area around the subject – a form of vignette
- Light (Screen blend mode): with a larger brush – sweep in some light over the subject, just t bring them forward a bit.
19th March
Hour 6,303
(½h) shooting in Dartington.
(½h) updating this journal.
18th March
Hour 6,302
(½h) updating this journal.
(½h) processing the photo from yesterday.
17th March
Hours 6,297 to 6,301
(2h) processing photos from Corvara including the following.
Eileen Rafferty’s pictorial analysis:
Subject: grooves of pisted snow; more or less even; receeding away.
Form: almost even rows of snow contour.
Content: Wabi-Sabi, beauty in the imperfection/ individuality.
At little bit of opportunistic photography in London.
Eileen Rafferty’s pictorial analysis:
Subject: Architecture of the new buildings housing the Interior Design Group contrasting against the older structure of the London underground station.
Form: Angular shapes; bright shapes of the modern buildings, surrounded by the gloom of the Tube Station.
Content: Coexistance of the old and new structures within London.
(1h) at the Society of Professional Photographers exhibition in Hammersmith.
(2h) Amersham PIC Group
16th March
Hours 6,295 to 6,296
(2h) processing photos from Corvara including the following.
Eileen Rafferty’s pictorial analysis:
Subject: melting snow on a hill giving way to the grass and scrubland beneath.
Form: totally smooth sky contrasting with the texture of the snow in the foreground.
Content: contrast and transition between the seasons.
15th March
Hours 6,291 to 6,294
(2h) processing non-dog photographs from Corvara in Capture One Pro.
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – 5 Clubs Competition, great event with some very good images shown – my role: SPPCExternal Secretary.
14th March
Hours 6,286 to 6,290
(3h) further processing the dog pictures from Corvara.
(1h) selecting a further 20 images for the Stoke Poges Photographic Club’s friendly competition with Gerrards Cross next Thursday.
(1h) at the Amersham Photographic Society’s Print competition – no skin in the game.
13th March
Hours 6,284 to 6,285
(1h) moving the images shot in Corvara from my laptop to main computer. Installing and practicing with Topas AI Sharpen.
(1h) creating the following version of image shot two days ago.
12th March
Hour 6,283
(1h) updating this journal.
11th March
Hours 6,281 to 6,282
(½h) shooting in the snow including the following dog and owner pictures.
(1½h) processing the images shot in the morning including producing a few JPEGs, from Capture One Pro, to share with the owners.
10th March
Hours 6,277 to 6,280
(1h) shooting in the morning both outside with tripod and from the hotel room.
(1h) processing the morning’s images.
(2h) Amersham Mono group.
9th March
Hours 6,275 to 2,276
(½h) shooting first thing in the morning.
(1h) processing the above images.
(½h) updating this journal, particularly with the comments that were sent to me about yesterday’s Stoke Poges PDI Competition.
8th March
Hours 6,273 to 6,274
(½h) shooting first thing in the morning.
(1h) processing the above images.
(½h) working on the “Winter 2021/ 22” post and updating this journal.
Results from the Stoke Poges Photographic Clubs PDI competition.
7th March
Hours 6,271 to 6,272
(½h) shooting first thing in the morning.
(1h) processing the above together with those from yesterday evening.
(½h) reviewing months: December 2021 to February 2022 for the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
6th March
Hours 6,269 to 6,270
(½h) shooting from our hotel balcony. Goal was to get 20 images without moving more than 3 feet; achieved 10.
(½h) processing the above images; 8 of the above 10 were worth of keeping.
(½h) reviewing months December 2021 to February 2022 for the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
(½h) shooting some night ski shots.
5th March
Hour 6,268
(1h) creating a draft of the “Winter 2021/ 22” post.
4th March
Hour 6,267
(1h) updating this journal.
3rd March
Hours 6,263 to 6,266
(2h) selecting images for next year’s pool of external competitions for the Stoke Poges Photographic Club.
(2h) Amersham Beyond Group – next challenge: “Toning”.
2nd March
Hours 6,259 to 6,262
(3h) selecting and processing replacement images for my potential A Panel “The Trees of Stoke Common”.
(1h) YouTube:
- Blouin Artinfo: “Rene Magritte at MoMA“
- Deiva Media: “René Magritte Most Known Paintings, Surrealist Art Master“
- Sotheby’s: “Floria Sigismondi on Magritte’s Masterpiece ‘L’Empire des Lumières’“
- Art History School: “Rene Magritte: The Life of an Artist“
1st March
Hours 6,254 to 6,258
(1h) updating this journal including all the new month admin.
(3h) shooting and processing the following image for next week’s “Growing Wild” Competition at the Stoke Poges Photographic Club.
(1h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – “One Image” competition where