This journal records the actual time spent mastering art photography through 10,000 hours deliberate practice.
Hours 7,957 to 8,046
30th September
Hours 8,045 to 8,046
(1h) early morning street photography in Antibes
(1h) editing and processing the morning’s images
29th September
Hours 8,042 to 8,044
(1h) early morning street photography Antibes
(1h) Antibes Picasso museum – quite small but interesting with some opportunity for street photography
(1h) processing the day’s images
28th September
Hours 8,040 to 8,041
(1h) updating this journal, mainly with notes from yesterday’s colour meeting.
(1h) editing images with the changes suggested yesterday
27th September
Hours 8,035 to 8,039
(1h) Amersham Coffee group
(1h) Amersham Photographic Society’s annual exhibition
(1h) YouTube, Art History School: “Explore the Controversial Life of German Artist Otto Dix – Generalised Version“
(2h) Amersham Colour Group – my images below:
26th September
Hours 8,029 to 8,034
(1h) creating the cover image for the “Top Photographers and Other Artists” post
(1h) updating images and preparing prints for Wednesday’s colour group
(1h) YouTube from John Seed: “Bay Area Abex” review of many of the Abstract, Abstract Expressionist and Neo-Expressionists from Northern California
Rothko’s 1944 “Slow Swirl at the Edge of the Sea”, right, is a transition from Surrealism to pure abstract
(1h) researching Zhang Daqian, previously encountered on 28th February 2021, but I didn’t appreciate quite how important he was
He developed his skill by copying others. Initially literally forging the works of ancient masters where he gained form of legitimacy to the point where a forgery by Zhang Daqian was valued as much as an original. Later works encompass the techniques of the abstract expressionist
(2h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – Edith Ward competition: titles beginning with “L” my entries below:
| Image | ….. | Comment |
 | “Lemonade?” [Not included in the competition due to miscommunication, most probably on my part] | |
 | “Leaf” [Not included in the competition due to miscommunication, most probably on my part] |
25th September
Hours 8,022 to 8,028
(4h) adding images and text to the “Top Photographers and Other Artists” post
(1h) John Seed, Monday Morning Modernism YouTube #12″Pollock and Abstract Expressionism” – see quote, right. Abstraction was viewed with great scepticism when it was first introduced in the 1960s/ 1970s.
(2h) Amersham Photographic Society reviewing the images that did best in the PAGB inter-club final & Masters of Print Competitions: Many composites and Fantasy images,
24th September
Hours 8,020 to 8,021
(½h) editing and processing the “Homage to René Magritte” image shot yesterday
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) shooting “Homage to René Magritte II” right
(½h) editing and processing the image above – boarder too heavy at 1px but it needs something
23th September
Hour 8,019
(1h) shooting the “Homage to René Magritte’ image, right.
Notes:
- too much shadow to the right of the image – fill-in flash positioned too far to the left
- maybe a bit tight in the frame
- shooting angle a tad too high; horizon line could be lower (on thirds or even less)
22nd September
Hour 8,018
(1h) YouTube, John Seed – Monday Morning Modernism 11: “Edvard Munch and German Expressionism“
Munch painting of himself as a child, in front of his dead mother, (“Death and the Child”) shows him covering his ears as if to stop the noise of this mother’s death. Perhaps a precursor to The Scream; in the same way that Salvador Dali’s Great Masturbator introduces the self-portrait that is the enigmatic fish-like object at the centre of The Persistence of Memory.
Munch and many of the expressionists associated the sexual act with grossly disfiguring and, then, incurable venereal diseases, which led to the depiction of women as deadly temptresses.
21st September
Hours 8,012 to 8,017
(1h) creating the image above “Vilnius Street Experiment” which has a sense of ambiguity and unease
(3h) creating the “Arms of an Angel” image below which required the painfully tedious cutting out of the wings using the pen tool.
Also, “Somebody Else’s Fantasy II” right.
(2h) Amersham PiC Group meeting
20th September
Hours 8,010 to 8,011
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) further curating my top images for the “After 8,000 Hours – 80% Review” post
(1h) YouTube:
- John Seed: “Monday Morning Modernism #10: Surrealism“
- The Canvas:
- “How Magritte Painted His Trauma” – the impact of his mother’s suicide on 3 of his painting – but The Lovers 1&2 depict blind love rather than being another reference to his mother
- “The Failure of Surrealism” surrealism succeeded as a art movement but failed in its revolutionary ambitions to change the world
19th September
Hours 8,007 to 8,009
(1h) updating this journal including the recently shot images below and creating the diptych below
(1h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – mounting workshop – the style demonstrated could not have been more different to the one I employed for my prospective A panel. She was all about photo conservation, ensuring that the mount board, adhesive tape was ph neutral, etc., so that nothing degraded and discoloured and that minimal amounts of adhesive were used
(1h) YouTubes:
- John Seed: “Monday Morning Modernism #9: Modern Architecture“
- Sean Tucker: “The Strengths of being a Creative Introvert (feat. Margaret Soraya)” – Seascape photographer and artist
18th September
Hours 8,001 to 8,006
(1h) editing and processing the images shot on the 16th, in Capture One
Remarkable variation between the emotional impact of the images as shows by the diptych right “One Kitchen, Two Photos”
(5h) preparing the prints for my second ARPS submission and submitting digital versions and all the documentation
17th September
Hours 7,999 to 8,000
(2h) preparing the prints for my second ARPS submission
A few minutes shooting a number of variations of the same scene below
16th September
Hour 7,998
(1h) John Seed, Monday Morning Modernism #8 YouTube: “Henri Matisse“
A few minutes shooting contra jour in my kitchen
15th September
Hours 7,996 to 7,997
(2h) drafting an “After 8,000 Hours – 80% Review” post & first stab at selecting my top 10 images
14th September
Hours 7,994 to 7,995
(½h) editing some of the images shot at the “World in Common” exhibition yesterday and updating this journal
(1½h) organising and collecting links and images for the “Most Influential Photographers and Other Artists” post
13th September
Hours 7,993
(1h) at the Tate Modern’s “A World in Common: Contemporary African Photography” exhibition. Interesting compositional themes and a few ideas worth copying
12th September
Hours 7,990 to 7,992
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) processing a revised “Arms of an Angel” image
(1h) John Seed Monday Morning Modernism #7 YouTube: “The Landscape of Pleasure and Monet“
(1h) preparing and ordering prints for my potential A Panel.
11th September
Hours 7,988 to 7,989
(½h) updating this journal
(½h) working on the new “Top Photographers and Artists” post
(1h) adding shadows to the “Arms of an Angel” image and reducing the contrast of the background – this really needs to be done properly!
[Amersham Photographic Society – but less than half an hour’s benefit.]
10th September
Hours 7,985 to 7,987
(½h) preparing and shooting the arms that will be included in my “Arms of an Angel” image
(½h) creating the “The Tube in Summer” image, right
(1h) John Seed Monday Modernism #6 YouTube: “Russian Modernism“
(1h) processing the “Arms of an Angel” (first draft) image below
9th September
Hours 7,983 to 7,984
(½h) updating this journal
(1h) John Seed, Monday Morning Modernism YouTube lecture #5: “DaDa“
(½h) creating a series of the “Depressed Piano Key” images, left for use in compositions
8th September
Hours 7,978 to 7,982
(2h) processing the images from yesterday’s shoot at Battersea Power Station
“Somebody Else’s Fantasy”, right, title is a reference to the photographic judge’s regular complaint about images of somebody else’s art, which this clearly is
(1h) shooting an old piano that the Stoke Poges Village Hall is trying to sell, plus a few that I might try to use in composites
(1h) processing the piano images
(1h) John Seed, Monday Morning Modernism YouTube lecture #4: “Picasso and Cubism: Demoiselles to Guernica“
7th September
Hours 7,975 to 7,977
(1h) updating this journal
(2h) shooting in Battersea Power Station with my friend and mentor, Yin Wong
6th September
Hours 7,972 to 7,974
(1h) Amersham Coffee Group. The prints of the three central images of my potential A panel were discussed. Whereas the first, i.e., image 7, was universally like and considered appropriately “moody and melancholy”, the last, image 9, was thought to be “murky”. This clearly needs a bit more work.
(1h) John SeedYouTube:
- “Aiden Kringen: Beauty and Chaos” – Sonoma County artist who mixes photorealism with abstract expressionism – see quotes left and below
- Monday Morning Modernism #3: “Early Picasso“
“Every act of creation starts with an act of destruction”
Pablo Picasso
(1h) further learning about field blur as applied to shadows.
Somewhat dissatisfied with the effect created so far as transition from one blur state to another doesn’t seem very smooth. For example the bottom edge of the triangle right seems to be very little (as defined by the bottom left pin) for the first almost half of the edge. The quickly transitions to very blurred (as defined by the bottom right pin) for the right part of the edge. Hmmmm…
5th September
Hours 7,969 to 7,971
(1h) learning about field blur in photoshop which is an essential part of making convincing shadows:
- convert the layer to a smart object: Top Menu: Filters -> convert for smart filters
- ensure that pins are visible: Top Menu: View -> Show -> Edit Pins
(1h) selecting images for the North West Federation of London competition on behalf of the Stoke Poges Photographic Club
(1h) Stoke Poges Photographic Club – welcome evening [2 hours of which half was social with little learning benefit, however the review of images was quite instructive.]
4th September
Hours 7,963 to 7,968
(½h) updating this journal
(2h) John Seed YouTubes Monday Morning Modernism:
“The effort that the artist puts into creating a picture is part of the subject of that picture”
John Seed
The above was said about painting, particularly in the expressionist and abstract expressionist styles. Quality of brush strokes, etc. I wonder if it could also apply to photography?
Thought: one of the differences between how humans see and how cameras see is that human vision is based on a mental model that is built up from a series of samplings from the eyes; whereas the camera take just one shot. It is therefore likely that humans perceive a greater, or at least less consistent, depth of focus that can be reproduced in a photograph. I do not know if this is true or relevant to photography, but it is a musing that I considered worthy of recording.
(1h) YouTube by Robert Hughes: “The new shock of the New” the John Seed documentaries were based on the Hughes book “The shock of the new”
(½h) Creating the chest on white image below:
(½h) watching YouTubes about creating more realistic shadows – still more to learn:
Process:
- Select subject (photoshop command – subject to have the shadow)
(1½h) Amersham Photographic Society
3rd September
Hours 7,961 to 7,962
(½h) updating this journal, particularly with notes from yesterday
(½h) creating the Chest image below
(1h) preparing a large “Crowd Scene” image for printing for Lottie and Darwin following the wedding shot in April.
Looking at the chest photo above, I realise that the shadow really is woefully unrealistic. Seeing the image isolated on a white background highlights this fact.
2nd September
Hours 7,959 to 7,960
(1h) John Seed YouTube on the Bay Area Figurative painter, i.e., neo-expressionist: “Richard Diebenkorn: Painting with Doubt“
(1h) shooting lots of images of an old “Harry Potter” style school trunk.
1st September
Hours 7,957 to 7,958
(1h) updating this journal including all the new month admin adjustments to the site
(1h) researching artists and photographers for the “Top Photographers and Artists” post
